The Wheel of Destiny
by DefyGravity18
Summary: Takes place after Dead Man's Chest. Commodore now Admiral Norrington is joined in Port Royal by his sister after their father has passed away. Elizabeth and Will have married. There is more to Jack's compass than meets the eye. WE NO Sparrowbeth!
1. A New World, A New Life

1**Hey everyone, so this is NOT my first fic, but it is my first Pirates fic so be gentle...I'm trying to be historically accurate and I am so tired of all of these headstrong heroines. Lets be honest, most upper class girls in the early 1700s were not rebellious as our Lizzie, so I have decided to make my heroine a more subdued gentle girl. **

**I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean, that pleasure belongs to Disney. **

**Also, the song used in this chapter is called, Ward the Pirate and was registered in 1680 by W. Onley. Here is a link to the tune. http/www. contemplator. com /sea/ward. html (Just remove spaces) as for who my girl will end up with or will she at all we shall see. I'll let you decide for yourself who you think she should be with after a while...but in the end, I already know. Anyway...thank you for reading!**

**Enjoy,**

**Syd**

_July 12, 1706_

_James wrote to me this week. He wants me to join him in Port Royale since Father is passed on and I have no husband to speak of. Being twenty-one, I am now officially a spinster. Bloody romantic dreams...if only I could bring myself to resign to a life with a man I do not love...if only...I shall go on the next ship with the young officers being sent as well. We leave tomorrow...it is not leaving England I fear but living with the brother I have hardly known these past nine years. I only hope to find happiness at least with family...he is getting married the day after I am to arrive...perhaps I shall sing at his wedding. I must pack..._

_Eleanore Norrington_

* * *

It was warmer than Ella had expected as the _Olympus _docked in Port Royale. The weather was immaculate and to her delight, the water was a lovely light blue. She met the familiar blue grey eyes as she was helped off the ship by one of the younger officers. She held a parasol to shield her from the blistering sun and thanked the Lord that she had her rusty brown hair pinned up off of her neck. Their eyes were the same though she'd gotten a hint of their mothers green as well. He was just as she remembered him but older...a man. He smiled lovingly as he always had with her and took her hand.

"Eleanore...you're a woman..." He said, offering her his arm which she took. She smiled sadly and nodded.

"Pity...isn't it?"

He lived not far from the docks in a rather impressive house which would comfortably house her as well as his new wife to be and the servants. As she vaguely understood, James had been in some sort of confrontation recently with a pirate and she didn't want to intrude on his personal business so she spoke of the only thing that came to mind.

"Father called for you when he was dying." He looked up, loathing in his eyes.

"What would he have wanted with me?" He asked dryly and she bit her lip.

"I don't know...I suppose he wanted to apologize to you...for everything he put you through." A glimmer of pain flashed and he looked away.

"I don't want to talk about it Ella." She stared at him a few moments with her head tilted until he became irritated.

"What?" He asked and she couldn't hold back a snicker.

"That wig is hideous dear brother."

Ella met her soon to be sister-in-law over dinner that night and liked her immediately. Charlotte Mason was a bit uptight, but she seemed like a good woman. It didn't surprise Ella that her brother's bride was a year younger than she in the least. Over the past five years she had been forced to have countless suitors but each of them proved to be fruitless in earning her hand in marriage and in turn she received a reputation for being flighty. Not that she was, she just wanted to be in love rather than settle for a man of power. Ella Norrington was not a strong woman, at least she didn't think so. Her days were spent reading books and living vicariously through them since she had neither the courage nor determination to live them herself. She was introverted and soft spoken and often called starry eyed or dreamy. Wanting desperately to believe in fairytales, she dreamed of a handsome prince carrying her off on his white horse into the sunset. Cliche, one might say, but to her it was a fantasy.

Ella had almost made it through the dinner with Charlotte's family and her brother when Mrs. Mason asked her if she needed a sponsor for the upcoming season. She'd nearly spit her wine, having been through four seasons already.

"I...um..." Her brother's eyes pleaded with her as she stumbled for words and she smiled in defeat. "Actually I do..." She said sadly and the woman perked at the idea.

"I'd be delighted! Since Charlotte is getting married, it will give me something to do!" Ella looked toward the window as if there might be an escape and noticed the sky had turned terribly black...through the wind and the now falling rain, she thought she could make out the shadow of a ship in the distance.

As Ella brushed her hair for bed that night, a soft knock at her door started her. She quickly hid the romance novel she had on the vanity and called out for whomever it was to enter. It was James, of course.

"I wanted to thank you for your politeness and consideration of Mrs. Mason...she hasn't been taking the thought of losing her only child to marriage well...I know you must be sick to death of the seasons..." Ella held her hand up to silence him.

"Jim, I am glad to do it. If it will help you with your bride's mother, I will suffer through another season as the perpetual wallflower. I only hope you won't be too disappointed in being known for having the sister who is a spinster." James smiled at her, pressing a kiss to her temple.

"You, a spinster? Never."

* * *

The wedding was lovely, as the foreboding weather had dwindled and given way to glorious sunlight. James seemed to be genuinely fond of Charlotte, though as to if he loved her Ella could not be sure. The governor was present at the ceremony as well as the reception but to Eleanore's disappointment, his daughter was absent. Elizabeth Swann was a girl she had known in England as a girl and who was a year younger than she. Still, she had considered the girl a friend and had been looking forward to seeing her again. Weatherby Swann hadn't changed a pinch and still had the kindly eyes she remembered from all those years ago. When they'd come to the Caribbean with my brother, Elizabeth had been twelve and Ella nearly thirteen. Immediately following James's departure, she was sent to finishing school to be groomed as the bride she had always been meant to be. Truth was, she hadn't minded a bit.

Elizabeth had always been different with her rebellious streak and her lust for adventure. Ella supposed that was why they were such friends since opposites do attract. Ella later learned while in school, James had been promoted from Lieutenant to Commodore and had taken Lizzie for a fiancée. Of course, she had been thrilled to death about the prospect of her old friend being her sister, but later found it wasn't meant to be and James had let her go. Terribly sad, but life does go on as he had met Charlotte Mason when he had been promoted again to Admiral, who had been the daughter of a rather ill doctor, who was on his last legs. He had since died and given James his blessing to marry his only child.

The reception proved to be a tedious interrogation by the women of society to Ella. They simply had to know if she was spoken for, or simply waiting for someone. Ella was impressively patient as she answered their questions and though she saw the disdain in some of their eyes, most could not help but like her calm nature and soft voice. To Ella's complete terror, one of her brother's friends suggested that she sing after James had boasted about her voice, which had been the product of her music lessons in finishing school. All proper ladies were to know some form of music and hers had been the piano as well as a surprisingly sweet voice. Ella sighed, knowing she couldn't very well refuse James after nine years of being apart from him as he was her only family left. She softly told the conductor the name of the song she wished to sing and stood uneasily on the small stage.

_**Come all you gallant seamen bold,  
All you that march to drum,  
Let's go and look for Captain Ward,  
Far on the sea he roams.  
He is the biggest robber  
That ever you did hear,  
there's not been such a robber found  
For above this hundred year. **_

_**A ship was sailing from the east  
And going to the west,  
Loaded with silks and satins  
And velvets of the best;  
But meeting there with Captain Ward,  
It was a bad meeting;He robbed them of all their wealth,  
And bid them tell their king.**_

_**O then the King proved a ship of noble fame,  
She's call'd the Royal Rainbow  
If you would have her name;  
She was as well provided for  
As any ship can be,  
Full thirteen hundred men on board  
To bear her company.**_

_**'Twas eight o'clock in the morning  
When they began to fight,  
And so they did continue there  
Till nine o'clock at night;  
Fight on, fight on, says Captain Ward  
This sport well pleases me,  
For if you fight this month or more,  
Your master I will be.  
O then the gallant Rainbow, she fired  
She fired in vain.  
Till six and thirty of her men  
All on the deck were slain;  
Go home, go home, says Captain Ward  
And tell your king for me,  
If he reigns king all on the land  
Ward will reign king on the sea.**_

By the time she had finished, all were laughing merrily and drunkenly at the old ballad of the Pirate Ward. She sighed in relief and as she looked across the room, three figures were shadowed by the moonlight against the water. She looked at James, who had stood immediately and tried to calm the uproar. I followed him as he made his way to the two people standing in the doorway. One was most certainly a man and the other seemed a lithe boy, but when the hat came off, it was obvious she was a girl. Recognition immediately passed through Ella's eyes as she exclaimed,

"Lizzie?" The girl looked like she had been to Hell and back and her friend, a young man with black hair loosely tied back and a beard seemed so exhausted he could hardly stand. Yet, Ella could have sworn there were three, but perhaps it had just been an illusion of the night.

Weatherby Swann had rushed through the crowd to his daughter, pulling her into a tight embrace. The room erupted in cheers for the joy of their governor's daughter being safe at home.

"Oh dear child, you smell of rum and sweat." The governor said, as he shook the young man's hand. Elizabeth cast a glance in Ella's direction and smiled briefly before attempting to talk to her father.

"Father..." She began as the man turned to everyone.

"A toast, for my daughter and her fiancé returning to us! May they get married and live many happy years together."

"Daddy..." She tried again and the man turned back to her.

"What is it?" She held up her left hand as did the boy.

"We're married. We've eloped." She said and the governor's mouth dropped, though he managed to contain his surprise rather well, Ella observed. She noticed James's face had fallen but as he'd looked at his own wedding ring, he sighed in defeat and offered the couple congratulations. After the excitement had died down, Lizzie went to Ella and took her hands.

"Oh Ella! Is it really you?" She asked, sitting beside Ella as her new husband merged with the governor and his conversation. Eleanore smiled at her, grateful to see a familiar girl.

"It's me." She sighed. "Lizzie, it has been so long...how are you?" Her old friend thought a moment before deciding on an answer.

"Tired really...exhausted even, but happy now. I can't believe you're here in Port Royale..." She said, her eyes full of question.

"Yes, well...Father has passed and James thought it best..."

"Oh dear. I am sorry Ella." She replied and Ella nodded.

"Thank you...but I think we both know there is not much grief on James's part. I can't help but be upset. He was the only father I had...our mother died so long ago. Even though Walker Norrington was a wretched man, he was our only family..." Elizabeth's eyes were full of sympathy as the girl mechanically recounted her father's death for what was surely the millionth time. Deciding to change the subject, Elizabeth said,

"Are you to participate in the upcoming season?" She asked and Ella nodded.

"Of course...though as usual I suspect it will be pointless. I've reached status as a spinster. Aren't you proud Lizzie?" She laughed and for the first time since Elizabeth had known the soft spoken girl, she detected a tone of bitterness.

"Surely some man will..."

"No. It's too late for me now. I've accepted the fact...but I will participate simply because it is the right thing to do." The tone in Eleanore's voice matched the despair Elizabeth had felt pondering the life she would have with a man she did not love. In fact, she was so worried over their union being interrupted again, that as soon as they had been on their way back from the ends of the Earth, she had begged Jack to marry them. Of course, it had been a drunken rambling ceremony, but it had been theirs and she would remember it, particularly since Jack had told her he was proud of her for her trickery in chaining him to the ship as the Kraken swallowed him whole. The thought of being in the belly of that monster was enough to make her shudder even now when it was dead.

As the reception went on and Lizzie joined the side of her new husband, Ella felt more and more like she was suffocating and decided to walk along the sea as she had always longed to do. James and Charlotte had left already for their honeymoon suite and there was no one to chaperone her. As the warm night air hit her face, she began to remove the stabbing pins from her hair and let her chocolate tresses flow in the breeze coming from the ocean. In all her life she had never seen anything so incredible. The light from the silver moon hit the dark waters like a thousand diamonds glittering. The sudden need to feel the sand beneath her feet found her stooped to unbuckle the slippers she wore and remove the knee high stockings from under her skirt. The sand felt warm and soft and like nothing she had ever been allowed to feel before.

As she came back up the interested odor of alcohol and tobacco filled her nostrils as she sniffed. When she turned around, she nearly fell out of her skin for as if one of her books had come to life, there in front of her stood a pirate if she ever saw one. A red cloth was tied around his head, as long black dirty hair fell from under it. He had a beard and wore a coat and boots and a hat which indicated he was a captain of sorts. She pointed at him, wondering if she had fallen asleep on the sand and was simply dreaming this or if she'd gone completely mad.

"You...you're...you're a pirate." He grinned.

"Aye...you were expecting someone else?" Her eyes widened in disbelief and a bit of fear.

"W-what do you want?" She asked, hugging her arms around herself. He held his hand up to calm her.

"Actually, I was headed back to my ship but I wanted to tell you I much enjoyed your song...tell me love, why choose a song about a Pirate?" She looked at her hands, unsure of whether she should answer him or run the other way. James would be livid.

"I...read about them and they are fascinating..." He was amused, Ella could tell and she suspected he thought of her as a funny little chit.

"What else do you read about love?" She blanched at the endearment and jumped when his finger crooked under her chin. Her eyes, the color of the Caribbean ocean met his uncertainly. They were dark, almost black in the moonlight and glittered with the mischievousness of a child.

"I...um...romance...princes...fairytales really." She trailed off as his hand cupped her cheek.

"Go on..." He said and she gulped, her knees feeling as though they would give out from under her with fear and something else. Something she didn't know...

"Adventure...treasure...victory..." He seemed closer than the moment before as he nodded.

"My kind of story..." He said and licked his lips. "I wonder love, have you ever been kissed?" Her eyes opened fully but she did not move.

"Yes," She said her voice quivering. "I have." His eyes twinkled as his lips moved closer. The rum on his breath was evident and sweet and intoxicating.

"By a pirate?" He went on and she shook her head.

"No...not a...pirate..."

Before another word could come out, his lips were on hers, his hands in her hair, his tongue probing gently into her mouth. It was the complete opposite of what she had imagined a pirate would kiss and taste like and, to her horror, her tiny hands were clutching the lapels of his coat and a warming sensation crept from the top of her head to her toes as she felt the blood rush to her cheeks. A sharp male voice made her jerk back.

"What in the name of God are you doing to my sister, Sparrow?" Terrified she forced herself to look at her brother, who had returned to say goodnight to her. She followed his gaze to her abandoned shoes and stockings on the sand beside them. Her face went from a flushed pink to red in moments. The pirate only stood casually by and said.

"_Captain_ Sparrow if you would, please."


	2. Repercussions

"Eleanore Amelia Norrington, what were you thinking...? Being compromised by that scoundrel?" Ella stood helplessly and ashamed beside the man who, only moments before, she had been locked in an embrace with. The mere thought of her carelessness mortified her and she could only cover her face with her hands.

"Oh James…forgive me…I lost myself…nothing happened really…" She said as her brother's eyes slipped to her abandoned shoes and stockings again. She sighed.

"It's not what it looks like, I promise you…" She looked at the pirate helplessly. He stood aside with his arms folded, amused.

"It's true mate, I'm good but not that good. It takes a bit more than a minute for me."

Ella found herself angry, but did nothing except stand aside quietly with her head bowed. James got into the man's face.

"Look Sparrow…"

"Captain…" The man corrected and Ella could see her brother clench his jaw.

"_Captain…_if you ever come near my sister again, I shall gladly see you swing from the gallows." The Captain's face went from an expression of slight amusement to a confident smirk.

"Oh this is your sister? Well, my apologies then…" He said winking at her, straightening his hat and to her surprise beginning to walk away while whistling the song she had sung.

"I am going to have my Lieutenant Anders be your escort for the days I am gone with Charlotte." James said once the Captain had disappeared into the night.

"James, I am so…"

"Eleanore." He hushed her. "I don't want to talk about it." He kissed her cheek and walked her back into the ballroom silently. She met Elizabeth's eyes across the room but couldn't bear the horror she felt at her own behavior so she disappeared through the double doors leading to the back staircase which her room was near.

"Oh dear. What happened James?" Elizabeth asked uncomfortably. The Admiral shook his head.

"Nothing. I have to go." He said touching her shoulder and immediately, he was gone as well. Elizabeth looked from her father to Will and sighed.

"That can't be good. I only hope Ella hasn't gotten herself into trouble." Elizabeth couldn't help but notice that her father had barely spoken a word to her since her return and was beginning to feel awful. The party dwindled soon after the departure of Norrington and Elizabeth followed her father and husband home for the first night of sleep in her own bed in months.

When they were home, Elizabeth left Will to get ready for bed to talk to her father. She felt as though she had failed him and desperately needed his approval. As she suspected, he was in his study going over the endless papers he had on his desk. Knocking on the open doorframe, she meekly called out to him.

"Daddy?" He looked up at her tiredly but smiled slightly.

"Lizzie…I half expected you to show up in my doorway tonight." He replied with a chuckle. She didn't smile.

"Are you angry with me?" She asked and he sighed, knowing this conversation had been coming.

"No darling, I am not angry…though I will not lie and say I am not disappointed. You are the only child I have and I was somewhat looking forward to giving you away at your wedding. However, if you felt that you had to elope with William then I will trust your judgment in the matter and you have my blessing as always. Just please, be careful." He said and she knew he meant, don't get yourself into something you can't get out of. Unable to bear anymore, she flew forward and wrapped her arms around him, apologizing.

"Lizzie." He said, pulling her away, though it pained him. "Go to your husband." He watched her walk down the hall and into married life with sad, yet hopeful eyes for undoubtedly, soon he would have a grandchild to spoil.

* * *

Ella cried into her pillow after she had dressed for bed and tied her hair into a braid. She'd only been in her brother's home for one day and she had already disappointed him. Why had she even let that filthy pirate near her? He probably wouldn't even remember the kiss in the morning…just another drunken encounter. She knew in her heart that the pirates in her books were not like the real pirates. In her books, the pirate met the maiden, fell in love with her and reformed his ways. She vowed that the next morning her pirate books would be stashed into storage. She wanted nothing to do with any of them, the filthy mongrels.

She awoke the next morning to the sun streaming into the room. The doors of her balcony had been opened by one of the maids and the gentle breeze from the sea was drifting in to slowly coax her awake. It amazed her that even in September, the weather could be beautiful and perfect. Remembering the events of the night before, her mood turned sour and she walked to the balcony, wrapping her dressing gown around her as she peered into the haze, straining to see if there was still a ship. She saw nothing but the open sea.

"Miss Eleanore, your bath is ready…" One of the maids said, coming into Ella's room. She sighed, turning away from the warmth of the sun and walking into her bathroom. As she sank into the soothing water, it surrounded her gloriously as she hadn't realized how sore her limbs were from the entire journey to Port Royal and the stress of the previous day.

"_Ella, don't you love me?" He asked her, smiling reassuringly. She nodded, trembling. _

"_Of course…but…"_

"_Then you should trust me…" His chest gleamed with the rainwater from running into the empty house. Lying on the floor near the fireplace, he beckoned to her. _

"_I-I do…I do." She said, sitting beside him. She welcomed his arms around her even though she wore but a shift. It wasn't until she felt his hardness against her back that she felt uncomfortable. With a start she jumped away. _

"_What are you doing?" She asked and he smiled. _

"_I want you to give yourself to me…tonight." He said and she shook her head in horror. _

"_But we are to be married in a fortnight." She protested. _

"_If you loved me…you would…" He said holding his arms out to her again. Sighing, she went. _

Ella's eyes snapped open as she tried to block out the past that always seemed to creep into her mind. Frustrated with herself and her life, she began to cry. She got out of the bath and was helped into her chemise and corset, pulling on her stockings and finally, her shoes. The maids helped her into a green dress that set off the rust tones in her brown hair beautifully. It was not Lieutenant Anders was waiting for her downstairs, but Lord Beckett.

"My lord?" Ella asked hesitantly as she reached the bottom of the stairs. He smiled up at her and though she smiled back, a chill ran down her spine. Not that Cutler Beckett was an unattractive man, there was just something foreboding about him.

"Eleanore…my dear…it is truly you." He said holding out his hand for her which she took in her own gloved hand.

"Where is Lieutenant Anders my Lord?" She asked softly and he smiled again at her.

"I offered to escort you today my dear…" Smiling she took his arm.

"How thoughtful of you…"

"How do you like Port Royal thus far Eleanore?" Lord Beckett asked as they rode through town. Ella thought a moment before saying,

"It is lovely. I love the smell of the ocean and the warm weather, but I cannot help but miss England." Beckett nodded.

"There is no place as fine as England...and I've been everywhere Eleanore." For some reason, his words made her terribly uncomfortable and she withdrew a bit. He went on.

"You have really grown up Eleanore...I would have expected you to have been settled by now." Smiling his eyes bore into her. She wanted to disappear because she suspected he was trying to woo her. Not that he was a bad man to her knowledge. He was successful and handsome and he seemed decent. Sure enough as he escorted her home after the tour of Port Royal, he asked her permission to court her. To her surprise she said yes before walking into the house. Once the door was shut, she leaned against it and began to cry again.

James and Charlotte returned that evening and found Ella reading in the library. She'd changed from her day clothes into a comfortable dress and put her hair into a braid as she liked to do.

"Hello Ella, how was your day?" James asked, kissing her cheek. She smiled, looking up at him.

"It was...nice. The funniest thing happened. Lord Becket escorted me around town and asked permission to court me." The smile left James's face as he turned to Charlotte.

"If you could, dear, give Ella and I a moment alone?" He asked and she nodded.

"Of course James."

"What did you say?" He asked, sitting beside her on the sofa and she closed her book, marking her place.

"I said yes. I hope that is alright with you." James looked, to her surprise, a bit uneasy with her decision but after thinking a moment, he forced himself to smile and nodded.

"If that is truly what you want Ella then of course." The truth was, though James knew Cutler Beckett to be a heartless and a bit power hungry, he was his employer and if Cutler Beckett wanted something, he got it. James only wished it weren't his sister.

* * *

"What say one of you lasses, or both of you if you so wish, makes a Captain's night, savvy?" Jack half grinned at the brunette twins who were both drunk and hardly able to stand.

"A Captain?" One said, giggling and turning to her sister. "We ain't never been with a Captain before..."

"There's a first time for everything lass..." He said, taking a swig of his rum. They'd stopped off in Tortuga for rum, after taking Will and Elizabeth back to Port Royal the night before. The second sister seemed to think on this concept as Jack stood waiting. Finally, they both turned to him and smiled.

"We'd be happy to accommodate you Captain..." The first one said with a hiccup. Jack just smiled drunkenly, putting an arm around each girl and following them to one of the rooms.

"Oh good."

As Jack lay with one girl on either side of him, he silently congratulated himself. He'd never had two at once before and now was just as good of a time as any. Of course he was still irritated that he'd kissed the innocent little chit the night before. Then again, he could barely remember why he had or what she looked like, so it really wasn't eating away at him. Beckett had branded him with a "P" for a reason and he intended to live it to the fullest. Indeed the pirate's life was not so bad if one didn't mind being alone. And Jack didn't mind at all, as long as he had his ship and his rum.


	3. The Wheel's Fortune

"Have a good tumble, did you?" Captain Grant Sparrow asked as Jack sauntered back onto the _Pearl. _

"Why have one, when you can have two?" He said, eyeing his father who in his old age, seemed to be turning serious. Still the man smiled, blinking in the early morning sun.

"What is our heading?" Mr. Gibbs asked, wiping the sweat from his brow. Jack thought a moment before taking out his compass.

"Let's see, Aztec gold...found it...buried treasure...eh, a bit overdone...finding the still beating heart of squid like pirate and being eaten alive by a giant beast...I think we covered that..." He flipped the compass open and bit his lip as it began to spin.

"Bugger...it's broken...what say we pay Tia Dalma a visit?" Gibbs raised an eyebrow but nodded.

"To the witch!"

Tia Dalma had been expecting them, not to Jack's surprise.

"Ah you cannot get enough of me can you Jack Sparrow?" She said, sitting at the table in her home. Since they had returned from the end of the world, her appearance had changed after Davy Jones had been set free. Her hair now hung down her back in black waves and her youth had been restored. It had been discovered that she was the legendary Sea Nymph, Calypso and had no choice in breaking Davy Jones's heart. She had coaxed the heart from Norrington, who had arrived with the British Navy to kill Jones themselves.

When they had come face to face with Davy Jones himself, she had presented the heart to him and he'd recognized her instantly. He took it from her and realized the truth about her as the water from the sea had surrounded her and transformed her back to her state of youth and beauty. He'd surrendered, and as she kissed him for the final time, the squid appearance dissolved to reveal the man he'd once been. She'd put her locket around his neck as he choked his final breaths. Her father, Atlas, had appeared to them as she wept over her beloved's body and had resurrected him from the Underworld, making him a protector of the sea, now Immortal. All whose souls had been taken by him were freed and restored to their former state of living.

Now she stood before Jack, his father and Joshamee Gibbs with an aura of light surrounding her eternally.

"The compass...it's broken..." He said presenting the spinning wheel to her. Her eyes widened, but the smile never left her face as she beckoned them to sit.

"Let me see it..." She said, her voice soothing and soft as she held out her hand. Studying it closely she grinned. "Ah...there is a purpose..." She said, snatching Jack's hand and facing his palm upward.

"Easy girl..." He said in surprise, looking back and forth uncomfortably. She hushed him and began to speak in an almost chant.

"Around de spinning arrow turn, soon de flames of love will burn. What de sparrow want he is not sure, for it lies wit in a being so pure...de wheel of destiny will show you love, when de sparrow meet de dove." Tia Dalma stopped, amazed at what she'd discovered within Jack's hand, which he immediately snatched back.

"The wheel of destiny...you mean to tell me that this old trinket can tell people there fates, thus letting them know their future, thus giving them all power?" He asked as she remained serious.

"No." She said, causing Grant to chuckle and Gibbs to look even more confused. "When de sparrow meet de dove...dis means dat you 'ave met de woman you are meant for and de compass will not work again until you find 'er and realize you love 'er."

Jack shrugged.

"There's just one problem with that love..." He said flexing his hand and she shut the compass.

"What is dat?" She asked, with a slight smile on her face.

"I've met nearly a hundred lasses in the past few days and not a one of them caught me fancy, as it were...so if you could just fix it, I would be eternally grateful." He said with another half grin. She lost her own smile and took the compass.

"I 'ave no power over dis now...it's fixin' lies in your 'ands." She handed the useless compass to him and stared. He looked to his father and then to his ever confused first mate who shrugged. With a heavy sigh, he turned back to the nymph.

"So how would one find said lass..." With a smile, she moved to open a drawer and withdrew a rolled piece of parchment, placing it in front of him. A map.

"Well, to start I would 'tink of de places I been..."

* * *

"I find it surprising that you have taken a liking to Ella, Lord Beckett." The Admiral said, seated in his employers office. The man smiled with his hands steepled under his chin.

"Yes well, Eleanore has always been a respectable girl and it is my good fortune that she never married As you know, I am in the market for a decent wife, one befitting of a man of my status and Eleanore is obedient, loyal and lovely. She doesn't talk back like that Godforsaken daughter of Weatherby Swann...really Admiral what could you have been thinking when you proposed marriage to that heathen of a girl?" James sucked in a breath as old wounds were re-opened.

"That was not a welcome comment, and I would appreciate it if you would not speak that way of Elizabeth in my presence." Lord Beckett actually chuckled.

"She really strung you along Norrington...didn't she?" The Admiral stiffened but remained quiet, remembering his place.

"No matter, then," Beckett went on, "I do plan to marry your sister...so if you have any objections, I would advise you to voice them now, though I daresay it would be terribly unwise on your part, having just been married and promoted." James simply shook his head and bowed slightly before leaving the room. Satisfied with himself, Cutler Beckett smiled as he turned to the fireplace and toyed with the brand in it that was a "P."

"A good match indeed..."

* * *

Charlotte was working on her needlepoint as Ella idly flipped through her novel, bored. Unable to bear the silence anymore, Charlotte set it aside and said.

"Eleanore...what was James like as a child?" Ella looked up, surprised since she and Charlotte had barely said three words to each other since she arrived two days before. Thinking a moment, she said in her soft voice.

"Well, Jim is nearly nine years older than I so you can imagine I don't really remember him as a child." She stopped, trying to recall her own childhood. "I do remember he was always trying to live up to the impossible standards our father set for him and it nearly drove him mad. Our father was a General and insisted that Jim become one as well. Our father was especially hard on Jim. Our mother died when I was two years old of consumption. As I understand, James and she were very close and he was devastated when she passed. Jim was sent to boarding school, then to university and straight into the military..." Ella stopped, hearing the front door.

"James is home..." Charlotte said, getting up to go greet her new husband. Ella opened her book about a mermaid this time, and returned to her reading. She could faintly hear some mumbling and an exclamation of "Oh! How wonderful!" from Charlotte. A moment later, James came into the room looking tired.

"Ella, I believe I have some news for you..." He said, sitting across from her.

"Oh?" She asked, marking her place again. He sighed.

"Lord Cutler Beckett has asked for your hand in marriage." He said and she stared at him, a bit horrified at the prospect.

"Oh." She said almost sadly. James sighed.

"It is your choice Ella..." He replied and a thought suddenly occurred to her. If she refused, where would that leave Jim? It wasn't as if Cutler Beckett was a horrible man...he was just determined.

"I will accept." She said softly.

Truly, it wasn't as if she was planning on marrying anyone anyway...not after she'd nearly given her innocence to a man she thought had loved her...when she refused him, he left her for another woman and she'd vowed never to love another. James looked somewhat surprised.

"You will?" He asked as she nodded.

"Yes, Lord Beckett is as good a man as any...and I am not getting any younger James." She admitted. To her surprise, Jim looked a bit sad but nodded with a tight smile on his face.

"If that is what you wish, I shall send word to him that he has my approval."

"Very well."

* * *

"Can you believe it? The very idea...sweet Eleanore being wed to that...monster...it's enough to make me sick." Elizabeth said to Will that weekend after the news of Lord Beckett and Eleanore's engagement had spread around Port Royal. Will looked thoughtful for a moment as he draped an arm over Lizzie's shoulders.

"Well, Eleanore did agree to it as did Admiral Norrington. Maybe he isn't as bad as he seems..." Elizabeth spun on her husband.

"Will! How can you say that? The man branded Jack a pirate before he'd even committed a crime! He practically cost us our lives at the end of the world and you say he may not be as bad as he seems?" Her eyes blazed and Will suddenly felt like a fool.

"You're right darling...I am sorry. Forgive me?" He asked, and she smiled, despite herself.

"Always." As they leaned in to kiss, Lizzie gasped.

"I have an idea!" She cried.

* * *

Jack quickly checked his reflection in the window as he waited at the doorstep of Giselle, his compass ready. When the door opened, he stepped forward and grinned.

"Ah Giselle, my darling, my pet my-" He was cut off by her hand meeting with his face.

"Where have you been? You come for a night and leave for months at a time..." He shrugged.

"A man has his duties..." He replied and had to duck when she threw a pan at his head. He stood up and brushed himself off.

"Well then...I've come to the wrong place I see...see you around love..." He was rewarded by a glass shattering against the door as he shut it. Hesitating outside the door, he checked the compass which was spinning just as it had been earlier.

With a sigh, he placed his hat on his head and knocked on the door beside Giselle's. When it opened he tried to look dashing and said,

"Scarlett...my pet!" The door slammed in his face before he could get another word out. With a shrug, he decided to call it a night and go on to the tavern.

"Did you find your bonny lass?" Sea Sponge asked as he approached the table tiredly. He instantly reached for the rum and took a long drink.

"I found several...just not the one to fix my bloody magic compass...bugger..." He said, taking another swig.

"I only loved one woman in my life...and that was your mother Cora...may she rest in peace..." Jack looked at his father disbelievingly.

"That's a bloody lie and you know it..." He said, and the old Captain chuckled.

"I said I only loved one woman, not made love to one woman...savvy?"

"Yeah...savvy." Jack said, as they clicked bottles and drank.


	4. The Arrow's Prophecy

There was to be a ball the night after the engagement announcement two weeks after Ella had come to Port Royal. They were to be married in a month's time when she would become Lady Beckett. The thought terrified her as did the thought of her wedding night. She'd learned these past two weeks that Lord Beckett could be cold as ice if someone did not do as he said. He was rather good to Ella, however, lavishing gifts on her as if trying to buy her love. It did not make a difference to her, but she politely accepted his presents.

The afternoon of the engagement ball, Charlotte came into the room with a grin on her face.

"Ella, your gown has arrived from Mrs. Baker's just now…" She said, carrying the large box under her arm and setting it on the bed. "Come, I'll help you into your corset and things." She said, already dressed. Ella smiled at her and threw her dressing gown aside as she allowed her sister-in-law to put the corset around her and begin to lace it.

"I do hope your mother isn't disappointed I won't be participating in the season." Ella said apologetically. Charlotte laughed lightly.

"Are you kidding? She's thrilled to death that the girl she agreed to sponsor has already caught such a man!"

Ella smiled uneasily and sighed.

"Charley, can I ask you a question?" She asked, gripping the bedpost as Charlotte tightened her garment.

"Of course." The girl replied, finishing.

"Are you in love with James?" She asked, sitting on the bed. Charlotte sighed.

"I have love for him…but we mainly agreed to marry because it was a smart match. My mother arranged it. James is a good man, one any woman would be lucky to marry, but I suspect he still harbors feelings for Elizabeth. We are terribly fond of each other though." Ella nodded, looking at her hands folded in her lap, her engagement ring shining in the sunlight. She could settle for being terribly fond of someone…couldn't she?

* * *

"She's an ideal catch Beckett, well done." Jeremy Warton, an Earl and a partner in the East India Trading Company said as the group of wealthy men watched their spouses and some of the single women crowd around Lord Beckett's betrothed. He smiled, satisfied with himself and nodded.

"She is…a perfect wife for me since I will scarcely be home. She will be able to bear children well and raise them…the only habit I must break her of are those damned books." A few of the men blanched.

"She reads?" One asked and Lord Beckett chuckles.

"A flaw that will soon be remedied. Women were not meant to read…that's where Norrington made his mistakes asking Elizabeth Swann to marry him last year. She was headstrong and rebellious and left him for a bloody pirate. If I have anything to do with it, Eleanore will never even come into contact with a pirate." The men chuckled gaily and toasted Lord Beckett's future.

"Care to dance my dear?" Beckett asked his bride to be, stepping into the circle of women, who practically swooned at the sight of him.

"Well I…yes. Of course." She said in her soft spoken manner as she took his arm. Elizabeth watched moodily from where she stood with her father and Will.

"I always hated these bloody parties. The incessant chatter, the phony laughs…"

"Lizzie, it's Ella's engagement ball and you've hardly spoken to her…" Will said, patting her gloved hand as she fanned herself.

"I can't stand it…how can she just go along with this…this charade? She couldn't possibly care for him…could she?"

"Of course she doesn't," A slurred voice said from behind the couple. Will and Elizabeth looked at each other confused.

"Jack?" They said at the same time and began to turn around but he had ducked behind them.

"Oh…don't mind me…I'm actually just looking for a woman…"

"A what?" Will asked, looking down at him. Jack sighed melodramatically.

"A woman, mate. You know…those creatures all slim and curvy that smell nice and…" He turned to Elizabeth. "Are you _positive _he isn't a eunuch?" She chuckled softly.

"Quite." She replied, squeezing Will's hand.

"So why are you looking for a woman?" She asked Jack, still looking out at the festivities. Jack snapped his finger.

"Oh, right…sorry…I was admiring the bosoms on that woman by the food table." He said and both she and Will cringed.

"The rum has gotten to you, mate…" Will said dryly, watching the woman throw herself at a man who was obviously not her husband.

"Right then…well, a couple of weeks back, the compass started this spinning business and hasn't stopped…I tried handing it to Sea Sponge, to Gibbs, even Pintel and Rigetti. Not a tick. So we go to the witch who tells me that the blasted trinket won't stop spinning until I meet a woman…she was rambling on about the sparrow meeting a dove and all that nonsense. Sea Nymph or not that woman has a couple of notches loose in that head of hers."

Elizabeth looked at Will.

"Sparrow meeting a dove? It's engraved inside your compass isn't it, Jack?" Again, Jack's attention had been caught by another pretty girl. This time, a thin woman with red hair.

"I think I bedded that girl once…tried to break a bottle of rum over my head…"

"Jack!" Elizabeth hissed and he shrugged.

"Sorry love…what was it?" He asked and she sighed.

"Let me see the compass, you fiend." She retorted, holding her hand out for him. He placed the compass in her hand.

"I don't think it's gonna work, love."

She flipped it open and touched the inside of the lid, trying to see anything engraved. There was nothing she could see, but a small fold caught her eye and she began to lightly pull the thin leather inside the casing. It folded down to reveal a piece of paper folded. Taking it out and unfolding it, she began to read.

"To those who possess this compass…" She stopped, and looked behind her at Jack before going on, "True love conquers all, this compass will spin when it's possessor meets the person meant for them. Until both parties confess their love, it's power is useless. Once the compass regains its power, it will lead you to the greatest treasure of all…" Jack looked satisfied.

"Now that doesn't sound half bad…"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and went on.

"Around the spinning arrow turns, soon the flames of love will burn…" She looked at Will, who shrugged as she began to read on,

"What the sparrow wants, he is not sure...for it lies within a being so pure…" Will eyed Jack who looked thoroughly confused, just as he'd been the first time he'd heard it.

"The wheel of destiny will show you love, when the sparrow meets the dove…" She stopped, all three of them pondering this. Actually, Jack was pondering pilfering a sack of coins hanging from a nearby man's belt, but lost interest when his compass suddenly clicked momentarily.

"Wait!" He said as Will and Elizabeth turned to look. Lizzie noticed the arrow had stopped for a moment and was pointing straight at Ella. Within seconds, the arrow began to spin again.

"Do I even know her?" Jack asked aloud and Elizabeth shook her head.

"It must have been caught on something…Eleanore Norrington just arrived here in Port Royal the day before James's wedding." She said with a shrug and Jack's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

_Captain…if you ever come near my sister again, I shall gladly see you swing from the gallows…_

"The girl! The one with the voice!" Jack stopped, realizing what this could mean and slumped against the wall tiredly. "Oh bugger."

"You know Ella?" Elizabeth asked and he nodded.

"Well yes…no…not really…I _may _have accidentally…kissed her the night of the Commodore…Admiral's wedding." Elizabeth's mouth dropped in horror.

"Jack, you didn't!"

"Guilty…" He said with half a grin.

"Guilty or not…that girl is engaged to Lord Beckett…" She said and the smile left Jack's face as did the light tone in his voice.

"Not Cutler Beckett, the very same man working for the East India Trading Company…" He said his voice low.

"The very same…" Will couldn't help but notice Jack crack his knuckles.

* * *

"You seem a bit tired…would you like some fresh air dear?" Lord Beckett asked his fiancée. Ella smiled politely.

"That would be lovely, thank you…my Lord." She said as she felt his hand touch the small of her back and wanted to recoil from his touch.

"Please Eleanore…call me Cutler…" He said and she gulped trying to fathom the words as they walked into the gardens of his estate.

"C-Cutler…" She stuttered. He chuckled.

"I regret that I haven't been able to explain my reasons for asking for your hand in marriage Eleanore…the truth is, I have been looking for a wife for some time now and the women here in Port Royal just aren't of the same standing as the women from England. You are a respectable, lovely girl with a fine upbringing. Not many people know this but Governor Swann will be retiring very shortly and I will be stepping in as Governor. I cannot do this without a good woman by my side, and you Ella, are that woman." Ella felt a bit violated when he used her shortened name without her permission, but remained silent.

"Well I…thank you sir…" Was all she could think of to say in reply.

They stopped in a covered area with a gazebo and benches all around and he walked ahead still speaking to her.

"I suspect we will be very prosperous you and I Ella…after time, I do believe we should return to England for a bit and rejoin our own society as this world is becoming far too uncivilized. I do want a large family maybe four or five…though more wouldn't be too bad either…we can only pray for boys and…Ella?" Cutler stopped walking and turned around, only when he turned to his fiancée, she wasn't there…


	5. Explanation

Ella could not scream, as there was a large had covering her mouth and a man's voice whispering in her ear.

"Relax love, I'm not going to hurt you, now steady…" He said as he quickly replaced his hand with a handkerchief to gag her and hastily bound her wrists. "Sorry to do this love, but I can't risk you giving me away, I will explain all later." The gag had some sort of sleeping potion in it and within moments she was limp. Will and Elizabeth emerged from the shadows and Liz nearly let out a shriek when she saw her friend thrown over the Captain's shoulder.

"What did you do?" She asked, her hands on her hips as the inevitable chaos at the ball could be heard.

"What I had to…now, help me get her to the docks without being caught."

The crew was waiting as the four boarded. Gibbs's eyes widened.

"God's nightgown! Ya found 'er?" He asked, as Jack nearly fell over with the unconscious girl.

"Yeah…I found her…now get going…" He said as the anchors were pulled and the boat began to move. Elizabeth stood up, realizing they were leaving Port Royal and said,

"Wait! Oh…I can't just leave like this again…" Will took her arm.

"It's too late now Elizabeth…we have to come…" Jack looked up from where he was ungagging the sleeping girl.

"Go to the second bedroom in my chambers, you'll find clothes and such in there…"

"Where did you get clothes…?" Will began to ask, but Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"Pirate." She corrected and he nodded, disappearing into the chambers with her.

Once Jack, Gibbs and Sea Sponge had taken the girl into Jack's chambers, nearly half an hour passed before her eyes began to flutter.

"She's comin' to Cap'n!" Gibbs cried as Jack left his place at the table in the room with Grant.

"Jim?" She said softly and for the first time, Jack noticed there were just a few small freckles spread across her nose. He'd seen women with freckles before, in fact, a few of the redheads in Tortuga were covered in them, but they didn't look attractive. Not that he thought this girl was particularly spectacular but she did have a certain charm and if she were going to help him fix his compass…he might as well like the girl a little. He had, after all, kissed her.

"No Jim here love…" He replied to her as her eyes widened.

"You! Y-you're a…a…"

"Pirate?" He offered as she sat up in the bed looking at the three men gathered around her.

"Where Cutler…what…happened?" She asked and he shrugged.

"I saved you love…really you should be grateful to me for hoisting your bonny arse out of there…"

"Y-you kidnapped me…" She said, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Kidnapping is such a harsh word…removed without permission is more of a better description."

"What do you want with me?" She asked fearfully, drawing her knees up to her chest.

"You see lass, my compass is broken…and I need it…well, turns out the only way I can fix it is to get help from said lass, being you…" He said with half a slur. It wasn't until he half grinned that recognition crept into her eyes.

"You're that pirate from my brother's wedding…the one who kissed me!" She said almost accusingly in her soft spoken voice. He held up his hand.

"If I do so recall, pet, you were right there kissing me back…" Her eyes filled with horror at the memory that he was indeed right.

"So how am I of any use to you?" She asked, trying not to look at the other two pirates, the elder one looking dangerously close to the Captain himself.

"It's magic love…ya see, the wheel stopped working when I met the girl I am supposed to be with, again, being you…and won't work again until she confesses her love for me and I reveal mine for her…bizarre stuff really but worth a try…" He said, so casually she thought she might die.

"You want me to confess my love for you after _one kiss?_ I don't even know your first name." She said, trembling and he sat beside the bed crossing his legs.

"I don't remember yours either sweet, but that did stop the arrow from pointing at you did it now?"

She sat in frightened silence for a few moments as Jack waved Gibbs and his father out of the room.

"It's Ella…" She said almost too softly for him to hear.

"What?" He asked, loudly, studying the amount of rum he had left. She sighed, tears forming in her eyes.

"It's Eleanore…my name is Eleanore." She said and he stopped.

"Oh." He said, inspecting his boot. "Jack." Thinking of her brother and her fiancé, she bit her lip.

"Are you planning to keep me here forever Captain Jack?" He shook his head.

"No…just until my compass is repaired and then I will send you safely back to your corrupt fiancé Beckett…" He held his bottle out to her. "Rum?" She looked up, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, ignoring his offer.

"Corrupt? Forgive me sir, but aren't you the pirate?" He took a sip and said in a sing song voice.

"So it would seem lass…so it would seem…" He offered the bottle to her again and said, "Are you quite sure you don't want any? It's a bit strange going down but after the first sip, it's Heaven…" He chuckled, rocking in the chair which he had tilted on the rear legs.

"Sir…if you don't mind my saying so, you're quite intoxicated and if you're not careful you're going to…oh!" Sure enough, the chair toppled backward and the Captain rolled out of it, quickly springing to his feet.

"Hate it when that happens…" He brushed himself off and looked the girl right in the eyes. "Now, I don't like this situation any more than you do, but the fact is…I need you, savvy? Tell you what, I'll split the treasure we find with it with you twenty eighty…" Her eyebrow raised but she shook her head.

"I don't want treasure, I want to go home to my brother and…"

"Your fiancé?" Jack asked as her face lost all color.

"Well…yes…him too…" She said, though with much less determination. Jack almost laughed.

"The fact of the matter is the faster we figure this out, the faster you go home to the darling Admiral and Lord…Beckett…" Ella noticed that everytime Jack said the word, "Beckett," he spat it out as if the very word itself were laced with acid.

"You hate him, Captain…don't you?" Jack held up his bottle of rum, which he had saved in his tumble.

"With every inch of my soul…" She looked thoughtful and a bit uneasy as his grip tightened on the bottle, but as he always did, he straightened up a moment later, brightening. "Tell you what, lass, I'll send Lizzie in with some clothes for you…I'll even let you have the bed…"

Her face turned into a mask of confusion.

"Lizzie?" She asked and he grinned.

"You know…tall? Kind of nice looking? Governor's daughter?" He said and her eyes widened.

"You kidnapped Elizabeth too?" She exclaimed and he laughed.

"No! Of course not…this time…" Her mouth dropped open as he left the room, humming some song to himself. When the door closed, she began to cry again.

"Jimmy…" She sobbed, knowing her big brother wasn't going to be there to save her this time.

"Ella?" A soft female voice called out to her.

"Liz?" She sniffed as her friend came into the bedroom with fresh nightclothes and undergarments as well as a dress for the next day.

"The dress is somewhat short, so it should fit you…oh Ella…" Lizzie's arms wrapped around the girl, who was completely lost as to why she was being punished for doing nothing.

"Are they going to kill me Liz?" She asked, and Elizabeth couldn't help but smile.

"No…they're not as bad as you think…pirates are very misunderstood as the public is fed an idea of what they are by men even worse." Elizabeth motioned for her to stand up.

"Come on, I'll help you with that wretched corset."

* * *

"How is she?" Will asked as Elizabeth crawled into bed that night. Liz kissed him on the cheek and thought a moment.

"In a word, terrified. Damn Jack and his selfishness…" She said, lying down. Will looked at the ceiling thoughtfully with his hands under his head.

"Can you honestly see Eleanore Norrington confessing her love for Jack Sparrow…?" He asked and Liz allowed herself to chuckle.

"It is quite the mismatch isn't it? She's so innocent and he's so…well, not."

"What do you think of us?" Will asked, turning toward her and kissing her shoulder. She smiled.

"I think we balance each other out perfectly." She giggled and turned out the light as he began to pull off her nightgown.

* * *

Ella gained a little hope the next day, when she walked on deck after waking up, wearing the pink dress Liz had brought her the night before. Her chocolate rust colored hair was down, which was rare for her and hung nearly to her waist in loose curls.

"Mornin' lass…an early riser I see." Ella swiveled to see the shorter heavyset man named Gibbs come onto the deck. She nodded shyly and bit her lip at the filthy condition of the boat deck.

"Mr. Gibbs…it looks like there was a war on deck last night…" He chuckled heartily and nodded.

"Aye, our crew aren't the cleanest men on the sea but they are the best."

"Morning Gibbs, my son the Captain wouldn't happen to be awake yet, would he?" Sea Sponge Sparrow asked, winking at Ella.

"Nay…ne'er before noon, ye know that…" Gibbs replied and the two men laughed. "The crew are below decks having their morning meal…biscuits and rum." Ella cringed.

"Ugh…" She said making both men laugh.

"Morning mates…" Ella's hair stood on end as the Captain's voice surprised them all. To her horror his arm draped over her shoulder.

"Sleep well love?" He asked and she shrugged out of his hold.

"Fine, thank you…" She said, drawing her shawl around herself and ducking back into the chambers. Gibbs and his father stared at him with their arms crossed.

"What…did I say something?" Jack asked with a shrug.

"Oh…you only snatched the lass straight from her betrothed's arms and knocked her out to bring her on your ship, leaving her to wake up to strange men gaping at 'er. No son, you didn't say anything…" Grant said, slapping Jack on the shoulder. "She sure is pretty isn't she?" Jack shrugged.

"Could be worse."

The crew began to file on deck to begin the day's work as Jack, Grant and Gibbs kept watch. Gibbs was at the wheel. Will and Elizabeth soon followed, joining Jack.

"Where's Ella?" Elizabeth asked and he looked dumbfounded.

"Who?" She glared at him and he put his arms up. "I'm only kidding, don't go burning the rum or something crazy like that…"

* * *

"I don't care what you have to do…find my fiancée." Lord Beckett said to the General as Admiral Norrington sat with his head in his hands in Beckett's office. "And if you find Sparrow, I want him brought back to me alive…I want to watch him die if he did this…and I have the sneaking suspicion he did…go!" He said, pointing the man out of his office. The General nodded.

"Yes my Lord." He said leaving. Norrington looked up.

"Ella would never run away like that…she was kidnapped…and if Sparrow took her, I am going to kill him myself."

"Keep your cool Admiral…our men will find her…and when they do, I am going to marry her immediately and we are going back to England until Governor Swann's retirement, whereupon I shall return to Port Royal to take his place. Once Sparrow and his lot are cleared, I will send for her and she shall return with any children we may have at that time. Yes Admiral, we are going to get her back…for in the end, Sparrow knows I always win…"


	6. Mending

"James! Any word?" Charlotte asked as her husband trudged into the house, drained and feeling worse than he had this morning. There had been absolutely no trace of Ella but for a ribbon from the dress she'd been wearing at the engagement party.

"Not a solitary one..." He replied, unbuttoning his uniform and heading for the stairs.

"This is simply awful..." She said, following him wearily. The day had been a long one with people offering condolences stopping in.

"I just don't understand it..." James said as he pushed their bedroom door open. "Beckett seems to think Sparrow took her, but I can't understand why. Jack Sparrow doesn't just kidnap girls...he only does it if there is something in it for him...he would need her for something and to be honest, he doesn't know her unless..." He stopped, looking at his wife.

"Unless what?" She asked fearfully and he sat on the bed.

"Unless it has something to do with our wedding night." He finished and her eyes widened.

"Our wedding night? What are you...?" She began but stopped when she saw the expression on his face go from upset to angry.

"He kissed Ella...he met her near the sea and kissed her out of the blue." Charlotte thought a moment, sitting beside him and replied,

"Was she kissing him back?" James looked at her, irritated.

"What?" He asked, and she swallowed.

"I asked if she was kissing him back." He looked at his hands.

"Well technically...yes." He admitted. Nervously, she began to fold and unfold the material of her skirt.

"Could it be possible...she ran away?" She dared. His eyes flared.

"Are you bloody insane? Eleanore? Run away with some pirate?" His voice had raised and he was looking at her furiously.

"All I am saying is the woman's heart is a funny thing...they think they want something and find out that what they want is completely different."

"Are you trying to say that my sister is in love with one of the filthiest, dishonest men to ever walk the earth?" Charlotte stopped.

"Well I don't..."

"Of course you don't! You wouldn't know, you've never even met a pirate!" Hurt filled her eyes and she got up, making him instantly regret his harsh words.

"Charlotte..." He said but she shook her head and fled the room.

* * *

"Where is the little woman?" Sea Sponge asked his son casually, taking a sip of rum. Elizabeth looked up from mending her dress and said.

"I'll go look for her." Jack shrugged.

"I would...but I simply don't want to..." He replied and Grant elbowed his son in the ribs.

"Get your sorry arse into your chambers and have the decency to check on her mate..." He said and Jack chuckled.

"Old Sea Sponge...you've gone all soft on us..." He said and the old Captain snorted.

"I have not..." He retorted as Jack disappeared into the chambers. Sea Sponge took a sip of rum.

"If the damned child didn't remind me so much of my Cora..."

"Lass?" Jack called, stepping into his chambers and instantly frowning. Something was different. Not that any of the furniture was moved or his items gone, but every thing seemed to shine. His rooms were...clean. He could hear the slight breathing coming from further inside the room and peered around the corner. His mouth dropped when he saw the girl lying on the sofa in his room with a cleaning rag in her hand, deeply asleep. The rust color of her hair was brilliant with the sun shining through the windows of the chambers. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gibbs come into the room.

"Cap'n I was just wonderin'" Jack held his hand up for silence and the man followed his gaze. "Is somethin' different in this here room?" He asked and Jack nodded.

"I think it's been cleaned." He said, moving quickly to make sure his rum supply hadn't been touched. Good girl.

"She's rather pretty isn't she?" Gibbs asked, eyeing the Captain who had been unnaturally silent, but still bemused.

"She definitely is nice to look at, but don't be fooled mate. That lass there is one of those bloody girls who believes that looking at her is a privilege." Gibbs shrugged.

"Believe me Cap'n. I seen plenty o'women an' lookin' at that there woman _is _privelige. Look long an' hard Cap'n Sparrow...for you'll never see a woman that pure again." Jack pulled out his broken compass and flipped it open. It was still turning but now it seemed to be ticking like a clock.

* * *

"Look, i's true...Capt'n Sparrow did finds a lady..." Pintel said, eyeing the small female standing beside Elizabeth.

"I 'eard she's the Admiral's baby sister an' he's pipin' mad 'bout her bein' taken." Rigetti replied leaning against the deck.

"I likes her 'air...i's a nice choc'late color..."

"I'd say more copper..." Rigetti replied as Pintel hit him hard on the back of the head causing his eye to fall out into his hand. "Blast." Rigetti said, popping it back it.

"Ya think he'll marry 'er?" Pintel asked and Rigetti nodded.

"Wouln't you? Look at 'er...I never even been that close to a lass that pretty."

"Sure you 'ave...Miss Liz'beth." Pintel pointed out and Rigetti sighed.

"Tha's different...Miss Liz'beth is spoken fer...she's Mrs. Bootstrap Junior now...r'member?" Pintel nodded, scratching his head.

"I s'pose...I don' think Capt'n Jack'll marry 'er..." He said suddenly and Rigetti gasped.

"Why not?" Pintel nodded at the Captain.

"Well...'E's not the marryin' type...an' he likes bein' alone." Rigetti leaned against the side again and bit his lip.

"Well...I thinks the Capt'n's 'fraid of fallin' in love...s'why he never does..."

"Hmm..." Pintel replied, "I ne'er thought 'bout that.

At that moment, the ship hit a hard wave and Rigetti fell against the side, getting a splinter in his hand and crying out in pain.

"Oh it 'urts!" He said, holding his hand out as the men began to gather around.

"Excuse me...pardon me...I'm sorry..." A small female voice said and before Rigetti knew it, a tiny hand reached out around his wrist and pulled forward. Rigetti gasped as he realized the Captain's lass was holding his hand and inspecting his damage.

"Well sir...it's just a splinter. Nothing a pin and a candle won't fix...come with me." She said, pulling him through the gaping men. She nearly gagged from the stench coming off of some of the crew but managed to hold back her disgust enough to get the lanky man to the Captain's quarters, finding the Captain himself there. He and the elder Captain were drinking as per usual when Ella dragged the pirate into the room.

"What are you doing girly?" The younger Captain asked and she ignored him, finding a pin in the sewing box near the fireplace.

"More than you would if one of your men was hurt…" She replied softly, her shyness dissolving in her determination to remove the man's splinter. Lighting a candle, Ella placed the pin into it, sterilizing it even though she was sure, most of these men were harboring diseases from lack of hygiene.

"W-what're you gonna do with that?" Her nervous patient asked. She smiled kindly at him.

"I'm just going to remove the wood in the skin so that it doesn't get infected, Mr…?" She stopped, not knowing his name.

"Rigetti. S'just Rigetti, no Mister." He said as she finished sterilizing the needle and taking his hand.

"Nonsense…every man is entitled to be called Mister. Do you have a first name Mr. Rigetti?" She asked and he looked to the Captain who was staring at her in a mix of fascination and horror. Rigetti cleared his throat before thinking a moment, not having been called his own name in nearly fifteen years.

"I's Benjamin." He said bringing a smile to her face.

"I like it…so that is what I shall call you, Benjamin." She looked up at the Captain and glared and him before holding Rigetti's hand palm up.

"This will hurt, so brace yourself." She said softly and gently stuck the tip of the needle into the wound.

"Ow!" Rigetti pulled his hand back quickly. She giggled taking his hand back and said,

"Silly boy…I've not even done anything yet." She said, "Now hold still, or it will hurt worse." The soft tone of her voice seemed to relax him as she began to ease the shard of wood from beneath his skin. Even the older captain had become fascinated with the process and both Captain and son were crouched to watch. Rigetti's face was clenched in pain.

"One more little bit…" Ella said, gently pushing the dead skin aside when she began to see the tip of the shard. "Now Benjamin…I need you to hold completely still…this won't hurt…" Using her nails to her advantage, she was able to slide the shard out completely, placing it in Rigetti's hand. He flexed his fingers, testing it and grinned at her.

"You're an angel, Miz…?"

"Ella…you can call me Ella." She finished for him, allowing him to help her to her feet. He thanked her again and ran to show Pintel excitedly. Jack pretended to stretch, putting his arm around Ella again.

"That's a nice name, love…Ella." He said and she glared up at him, but remained soft spoken as ever.

"_You _sir may call me _Miss _Eleanore." She said, pushing him off her and fleeing the room. Jack took a sip of his rum as he watched her leave the chambers.

"Something's bloody wrong with that lass's head. There're women in Tortuga and Port Royal who'd rip their clothes off at the sight of me…" Sea Sponge slapped Jack's back, clicking his own bottle with his sons.

"It may help just a bit that those women are being offered coin for their…services…while this girl has no need of money or…services."

Jack thought a moment before looking back at his father.

"If given the right amount of time as it were, I could persuade her to lie with me in my bed…care to make a bet old man?" Grant Sparrow narrowed his eyes at his firstborn.

"I'll not bet away that girl's innocence...and if you take it from her, I swear on Persephone's beauty that I will send you to the Underworld myself…savvy?" Jack whistled, looking at his father.

"Persephone's beauty eh? What's gotten in your head old man?" Grant set his rum down and turned back to his son.

"Jack, there's a difference…between bedding whores and bedding virgins and it's just not right for a man to deflower an innocent unless he intends to be with 'er…"

Jack chuckled, putting his hand on his father's shoulder.

"Relax Pa, it was nothing but a repartee…a joke Pa." He said, frowning as he stared into his rum. Jack was almost grateful when there was a knock on the door. Gibbs walked in with a letter in his hand.

"Cap'n, this 'ere arrived for you from the witch's bird…" He said, handing Jack the letter.

_Jack…_

_If you are sure you have found the right girl, bring her to me immediately…time is running out._

_Tia Dalma_

"Oh bugger."

"What is the crew doing now?" Jack asked Gibbs, folding the letter and placing it back in his pocket. Gibbs looked reluctant and cleared his throat.

"Well, Miss Ella, she's collectin' their coats and stockin's to wash an' mend em. Says she wants ta clean this place up…bad luck to 'ave a woman on board Cap'n, an' I tol' you that before…" The captain looked from Gibbs to his father. Before he could reply, the door swung open and the girl, overloaded filthy clothing stumbled through the door with the help of Elizabeth and Will.

"That will do Liz, thank you...and thank you for helping to carry Will." She said pleasantly and dropped the clothing on the floor, marching over to the three gaping pirates.

"I suggest if you'd like something cleaned and mended to please give it to me now..." She said shyly but firmly before moving away again.

"What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?" Jack muttered, scratching his head. Old Sea Sponge chuckled and leaned over to his son.

"I suppose it mean you should take off that old coat and give it to the lass to fix up..." Gibbs began to leave with Sea Sponge muttering under his breath,

"Women."

Elizabeth and Will joined Jack and his father as they began to remove everything but their pants as the other men had.

"What is that crazy sylph doing?" He asked them and Will grinned as Elizabeth leaned in and said.

"It's called making the best out of a bad situation..." She said and wiped her head with the back of her hand...feeling a bit feverish. Will put his arm around her waist.

"Elizabeth, are you alright...?" He asked steadying her as she began to sway. She nodded, holding her head. Jack looked up, the girl meeting his eyes for the briefest of moments before rushing to Elizabeth's side.

"I'm fine...I just need..." With that, Elizabeth Turner fainted into her husband's arms.


	7. Complication

"No fever...she's not ill." Ella said, putting a wet cloth to Liz's head. "Are there any smelling salts?" She asked, looking at Will. He shook his head. Jack crouched down.

"I'd be happily obliged to loan you my boot love, but I fear the lass would die..." He chuckled and Ella glared at him, irritated, but before she could retort in her quiet way, Elizabeth's eyes began to flutter.

"Ugh, why is the ship rocking so much?" She asked, weakly putting her hand over her eyes. Will frowned, touching her cheek.

"It's not Elizabeth, and since when do you get seasick?" He asked, sitting beside her with his legs crossed. Ella sat back on her heels and leaned against the armchair behind her, running a hand tiredly through her hair.

When she blinked, she noticed the captain studying her half drunkenly with half a grin.

"What?" She asked, irritated.

"Eh, nothing love, but for the fact that you are entirely too uptight and I'm willing to wager that if you wore your hair down more often, you might actually have a good time, as it were." He said, pulling his hat down over his eyes and holding his bottle of rum up before taking a swig. She cringed in disgust, but caught a quick glance of herself in a small mirror on the wall. She looked aghast, her long hair tangled and her normally ivory cheeks reddened from exposure to the sun, but she was surprised to see she liked the way she looked like that. Feeling guilty for almost having a good time, she looked back at the wet cloth in her hands.

"I think...I am going to be...sick..." Liz managed to sputter out and proceeded to turn over and thanks to the quick wit of her husband, throw up into a waste bucket. Jack stopped drinking and looked at his drink, wincing.

"Suddenly, my beloved rum does not seem so appealing..." He said, setting it aside. Ella studied Liz for a moment, having a gut feeling as to what ailed the girl.

"Liz..." She said softly and her friend looked at her. "How long have you and Mr. Turner been married?" Elizabeth looked confused, but began to sit up.

"Almost two months but I don't see how this has anything to do with..." Will's face lost color as he realized what the girl was indicating.

"I think she means...that she thinks you're...we're...oh God." He said, reaching for Jack's rum.

"Would somebody please explain what is going on here?" Elizabeth asked, bringing her knees to her chest. The captain nodded, distractedly admiring his rings.

"For me as well...I don't quite follow Miss Ella..." He slurred and Ella cleared her throat a bit nervously.

"What I was trying to get at, is that I think you may be expecting, Liz." She said and Elizabeth tilted her head.

"Expecting what?" She asked, looking at Will's stricken face.

"A...child." Ella finished. Liz's eyebrows raised but her mouth simply formed a small oh, as she looked at Will.

"Oh." She finally said aloud.

Clearing his throat, the captain stood and brushed himself off.

"Well, much as I'd love to continue this awkward conversation...we've got to be off to the nymph's house...she's 'specting us..." He said and swaggered out of the room. Ella looked shyly at the couple.

"Is he always that way?" She asked and Will looked to where Jack had just left.

"Do you mean in the sense that he runs from any sort of feelings and is trying entirely too hard to remain completely detached from some inkling of normal human life?" He said a bit sarcastically as Ella, pulled herself up.

"Actually," She said, cleaning up a bit around them. "I meant drunk. Is he always drunk?" Elizabeth and Will looked at each other then back to Ella as they both nodded.

"Oh." She replied. "Well then..."

* * *

"Jack...I 'ave been expecting you...where eez she?" Tia Dalma asked upon opening the door to her cottage for them. Shyly, Ella emerged from behind Will and Elizabeth, but before the nymph acknowledged her, she turned to Will and smiled.

"Congratulation Mr. Turnah..." She said and he looked at Lizzie confused.

"For what?" He asked. She grinned devilishly with her angelic face.

"You goin' ta be a father..." She said and turned to Eleanore.

"'Dis is de girl?" She asked Jack, who shrugged.

"You tell me love...the compass did a sort of ticky when I saw her and it's been spinning slower ever since."

"Ah ha...dat is de sign...though der is not much time...if de compass es not fixed wit in tree mont's time, den de owner shall forfeit his soul to Hades..." Jack's eyes widened.

"Hades...as in, Lord of the Underworld...? Pardon my asking love, but why did you fail to mention this to me when you gave me the blasted trinket?" He asked her, pulling out the compass and tossing it on the table. Ella's mouth dropped open. All of this was overwhelming to her, as she had never believed in anything of the supernatural.

"I did not Jack...you failt ta listen..." Tia Dalma said. "I told you dat wit takin' de compass came great responsibility and great consequence...but if used correctly, it would lead you to de greatest treasure in de world."

"Yes…I remember all that…and what does this have to do with anything?" In his frustration, more proper English than he would have liked, slipped out of his mouth. Tia Dalma picked up the compass.

"Dis compass were a gift from Aphrodite. De goddess o'love." She explained. "She tell me to give it to a deserving person who were in need of it…and you were dat person Jack. I know what dey did to you in dat awful company…and it weren't your fault…"

"Tia Dalma…please…" Jack said quietly and soberly, anger burning in his eyes. Elizabeth clutched Will's hand at the sight of it.

"You been runnin' from you feelin's ever since…you still do." She said, her blue robes flowing in the wind. "When I tell you 'bout de greatest treasure…der is more to it den just riches…but you 'ave to find out for yersef…"

Jack leaned over to Will and said,

"Did you understand a bloody word she said then?" Will shook his head and Jack nodded. "Didn't think so…good deal, mate." He stole a glance at the girl, Ella who was sitting uncomfortably at the opposite end of the table from him. She looked tired…upset…confused. She looked exactly the way he had when he'd left Port Royal for good.

"Isn't there any way to reverse this?" Elizabeth intruded, sitting beside Ella. Tia Dalma looked up and shook her head.

"Aphrodite es a goddess…I am a nymph. Her powers is far greater den mine. Der is nutting I can do…I am sorry…" She held her hand up when they all began to grumble. "But do not lose hope Jack…you may be surprised at what you will feel if dis girl es truly de one destined for you."

"What es your name girl?" Tia Dalma asked her and she looked up, answering just above a whisper.

"Eleanore…Norrington." She said hesitantly, unable to take her eyes off of the nymph's beauty. Tia Dalma's eyes widened.

"You are not de new wife of de Admiral are you?" She asked, eyeing Jack suspiciously. Jack smiled ironically.

"His darling baby sister actually… snatched her right out of her fiancé's arms." He said, a bit too proudly, his slur returning. Tia Dalma looked down at Ella.

"You is engaged?" She asked and Ella nodded.

"To Lord Cutler Beckett." The smile left the nymph's face.

"Dat does complicate tings…don't it?"

* * *

"My lord?" Cutler Beckett looked up from his desk at Lieutenant Anders.

"Any news?" He asked coldly. The young man nodded.

"The _Pearl _was spotted this morning…our men inspected the ship from the _H.M.S. Prestige _and could see no signs of a woman on board." He replied. Lord Beckett looked at him a moment before sighing.

"I still have a feeling she's there…was Sparrow spotted?" He asked, setting aside some documents. The Lieutenant shook his head.

"No. They assumed he was in his chambers. They did see one strange thing though…" He said and Lord Beckett raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yes? What?" The young man cleared his throat before answering.

"The crew…they were…they seemed to be bathing…shaving and such."

Lord Beckett looked up with new determination in his eyes.

"You go back to the General and you tell him that I want that ship inspected from top to bottom…in fact, I will accompany them as well as Admiral Norrington. All men are to be fully armed." The young man nodded and bowed slightly before leaving. Beckett grinned, satisfied with himself.

"Don't worry Ella…you'll be safe and sound with me soon…"

"Excuse me, captain?" Jack looked up from where he sat with his father after telling him the entire sordid tale of what Tia Dalma had revealed. He'd opted to bury himself in alcohol induced oblivion for the remainder of the day. Sea Sponge looked up as well, and nodded to Jack.

"I'm gonna go try ta beat the filth back into the men…" He said with a wink and disappeared through the door.

"What can I do fer ya luv…?" Jack asked, rubbing his temple. She bit her lip nervously.

"I brought you a bit of food…I was not sure if you would want it…but here it is…" He gestured for her to sit.

"Why the sudden change of heart, love?" He asked, eating a piece of meat. She frowned.

"It's not so much a change of heart captain, as it is…well…curiosity I suppose." A sly smile came to his face.

"Curiosity always gets them…would you like some wine first or would you like to just get to the point, savvy?" He said, winking at her and nodded toward his bed. Her face reddened.

"No! T-that isn't what I meant…I…"

"You want to know about Beckett." He finished for her. She nodded, turning pink again.

"Well, I do suppose you've a right to know…you are marrying the man after all…" Her eyes widened.

"Is he dangerous?" She asked and he shook his head.

"Cutler Beckett is nothin' but a blasted run scared jellyfish. S'why he sits behind that desk of 'is. Always 'as been. Only person he's dangerous to is me." He stopped, taking a swig of rum.

"Why?" She asked, sounding like a frightened child.

"You won't believe me love, but I used to work for him…I wasn't born a pirate…least I never wanted to be…never had a reason to…had a good job, a home."

"You worked for the East India Trading Company?" She asked incredulously. He shrugged.

"I did…mostly odd jobs like deliveries…and transporting goods and it was all fine and sunshine until Beckett wanted to start transporting a different kind of goods." Ella tilted her head, completely lost as to what he meant.

"What do you mean?" She asked, "What kind of goods?" His face went completely stone cold serious.

"People." He said and she bit her lip.

"_People?_ You mean you brought people to the new world…right? People who wanted to move to the new world?" He shook his head.

"People, love. _Slaves._ From Africa."

Her hands flew to her mouth in horror.

"Y-you mean…those poor people they auction off in the town square once a month? Who are beaten and starved and God knows what else?" She buried her head in her hands. "Oh, how could you Captain? How could you?" She heard him sigh before he replied,

"I didn't. I couldn't…they lied about it…they told me I was going to bring back a new type of cargo, but they didn't tell me what and Beckett promised me a promotion. I was twenty years old. When I found out what it was…I let the captured people go…I couldn't do it…"

"What did he do to you?" Ella asked hesitantly. Jack shrugged nonchalantly as if he were telling the story about someone else.  
"Nothin' really…he called me a traitor…branded me a pirate and sent me on my way." Jack pulled his shirt sleeve up, revealing the "P" on his wrist. She gasped in a mix of horror and sympathy.

"Did it hurt?" She asked him and he shook his head.

"Honestly pet, I don't remember…" The look in his eyes told her he did. "But don't you fret for old Jack…I left him with a pretty mark as well…I caught the brand out of his fireplace as I was bein' thrown out of the office and got him on the back of his neck, just below the hair line…only the "P" was upside down…and didn't come out right, so it ended up looking like a "J."

He grinned at the memory and took another gulp of rum. Ella stood up.

"Captain…I believe I owe you a sort of apology and would like to call a truce." He frowned.

"Why? It's so much more fun when you're chasing someone who loathes you love…" She folded her arms, speaking quietly.

"I misjudged you Captain…and I want to thank you for revealing the truth about Lord Beckett to me…though forgive me if I am a bit wary of your truths. I will, however give you the benefit of the doubt. Now, we should just try to get through these next few days without a hitch so that we can try to figure out this compass mess…savvy?" She tested with a smile. He held up his rum, his forgotten intoxication returning.

"Tell me love…have you ever been to Tortuga?"


	8. Rainy Night in Tortuga

"It's ale love, jus' drink it fast as you can…" Jack said, setting the unappealing beverage in front of Ella later that night. They'd pulled into Tortuga for some supplies. She sat between Sea Sponge and Will Turner at a far table in the rowdy tavern. Elizabeth had gone to lie down for a while feeling a bit under the weather. Staring into the mug she made a face at the amused captain across from her and wrapped her small hand around the handle.

"I'll try." She said, looking at the older captain beside her. He clicked his bottle with her mug as she hesitantly lifted it, taking a tentative sip. Instantly, she spat it back out sending all of the men into a fit of laughter.

"No no love…you just drink fast so you don't taste as much…" Jack said, winking at her. She blushed, embarrassed but began to gulp the bitter liquid. She only got about halfway through the glass before setting it heavily down and wincing as she tried to swallow.

"That, dear Captain, is _hideous._" She said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Sea Sponge laughed at her.

"Ah…we've turned you into a regular heathen now, 'aven't we?" She giggled, the alcohol seemingly getting to her head. Will set his empty glass down and scratched his head.

"Well, I'd better get to Elizabeth…goodness knows she's cranky if I leave her too long." Jack rolled his eyes and muttered.

"Eunuch…"

Will chuckled, picking up his things.

"Eunuch? Well, I must be pretty damned good since I got her pregnant, mate." He said, putting his hat on and turning to leave.

"Touché." Jack said as Gibbs walked in.

"Cap'n…it's ah…beginnin' ta rain…what are yer orders?" Jack looked up at him blankly. Gibbs gulped nervously.

"It's just ah…ya see…they want ta stay the night in Tortuga so's they don' have ta work in the rain…cause they might…" He stopped, looking from the Captain to his father to the girl.

"Might what?" Jack asked, raising his eyebrow. Gibbs cleared his throat.

"They might…mess up their clothes…and get dirty again…" Ella clapped a hand over her mouth and suppressed a giggle.

"What 'ave you done to my men, missy?" Jack asked and she shrugged.

"I've nothing nothing other than show them how to behave like gentlemen and realize the importance of self hygiene…" She hiccupped then, interrupting herself and began to laugh. Jack half grinned at her before looking back up at Gibbs.

"Fine then…we'll leave first thing in the morning." Grant got up as well and slapped Gibbs on the back before the man walked out of the tavern. Ella smiled crookedly taking another drink of the ale.

"It does taste better now…" She giggled again. "I like this music…all we ever hear at balls are dreadful _boring _waltzes. This makes me want to dance!"

Taking both of his hands, she began to move around him as he shot his father a glance. The old man simply laughed and put his hat on.

"Well then...time to get back to the ship, eh?" Jack said uncomfortably, guiding the girl by the shoulders. Grabbing the rum, Grant walked ahead into the pouring rain as Jack pulled Ella by the wrist through the downpour and onto the docked ship.

"Come love, let's get you inside and dry..." Jack said, pushing Ella gently toward the bedchambers, but she stayed on the empty deck looking up into the rain.

"Have you ever just stood in the rain and enjoyed the feeling of complete freedom?" She asked leaning against the side. Jack eyed his rum.

"Have you ever considered hospitalization love?" He asked, tilting his head to the side as thunder rumbled in the distance. She laughed.

"No really...I've never stood in the rain...or enjoyed the sun...young women simply stay indoors unless they are going somewhere, in which they then are covered by hats and gloves. It's nice to just be myself..." Jack watched as she twirled in the rain, completely dumbfounded as to what he should do. He'd been with dozens of women and yet it was a complete and utter mystery to him as to how to handle this girl.

"Come here..." She whispered, waving him over to her. Hesitantly, he strode to her side where she was looking over the side of the ship.

"Something you need pet?" He asked and she shook her head.

"Not really, well...there is something I would like though Captain..."

"Being?"

"I want you to dance with me in the rain." She said, facing him now and holding her hand out to him.

"I'd rather not love...if it's all the same..." He said, backing away. Suddenly, he felt the sudden need to get away from her, like he was being sucked under and suffocating as he nearly had inside that beast.

"Jack, please..."

It was the first time she had ever said his name and he couldn't breathe. The bottle of rum fell to his feet and shattered.

"Er...that wasn't good..." He said, looking at his feet and sighing. "Fine..." He said and then grinned, forgetting his discomfort. "I knew you couldn't resist me, Miss Norrington." She giggled, the alcohol still making her giddy.

"Ella..." She said softly. "Ella."

"You do realize that there is no music to accompany us...?" He asked and she nodded, setting herself into his arms.

"I shall sing..." She said and hiccupped, laughing. As she began to move, she sang.

"_**Come all you gallant seamen bold,  
All you that march to drum,  
Let's go and look for Captain Ward,  
Far on the sea he roams.  
He is the biggest robber  
That ever you did hear,  
there's not been such a robber found  
For above this hundred year."**_

She stopped after a moment, laughing and trying to catch her breath.

"Captain...remember when you kissed me?" He looked away nonchalantly.

"Vaguely, yes..." He replied. It was a lie. It had been replaying through his mind since he'd kidnaped her right from under Beckett's grip. Pouting, she wiped the hair that clung to her face from the rain.

"Would you ever want to try it again...?" She asked suddenly as the rain began to slow. He raised an eyebrow.

"You wouldn't want me, love...we're too different and you're too drunk." He said, avoiding the question.

"You didn't answer." She said quietly...sobriety coming back into her eyes. The softness of her voice returning.

When he didn't respond, she looked at him.

"You're afraid of me aren't you Captain?" She asked seriously and he nearly laughed.

"Why should I fear you, sweet?" He asked, sadly eyeing the remains of his shattered bottle of rum.

"You're afraid your compass was right. You're afraid to fall in love with me..."

"Am not!" He said, raising his eyebrows in disgust at his arguing with her. She went on.

"...Because, you're afraid you can't give anyone a future...or a decent life since Beckett practically stole yours. That's why you've never married and you use women and leave them. You don't want to love anyone because you're afraid that they will be dragged into this mess with the East India Trading Company with you, and that's the truth Captain, isn't it?"

He stared at her with his head cocked to the side and his arms folded, pondering what he should say in response, but he drew a blank. What could he say? With a nervous chuckle, he shrugged.

"Believe what you will, love, but I don't..."

"You're going to have to face Cutler Beckett sooner or later...you can't keep running from these demons because they will always come back to haunt you. Jack, if they catch you, he will have you hanged and you will leave me with incredible guilt because I am the only person in this world that knows the truth about you...and that, dear Captain, is why you are afraid of me." With a glint of mischief in her eyes, she grinned and whispered. "Coward." That did it. In a moment, he had pulled her against his chest and his lips had come down on hers.

After a moment, he pulled back, quite satisfied with himself and crossed his arms and upon seeing her with her eyes still clothes, her lips still parted, incredible guilt filled him. This had been wrong...and he was wrong for even falling into the trap. Life had been so simple when he'd lived in Port Royal with his mother as a young man. At twenty, he'd been one of the youngest men in the navy to have been promoted to Captain, which was why the title was so important to him. Even now. Ella's eyes opened and she looked confused.

"Well, is that all?" She asked and he nodded.

"That's all I am afraid. I am a coward..." He said and walked her quietly into the bedchamber before laying a thin blanket on the floor near the fireplace after grabbing another bottle of rum and setting his sights on becoming drunk again.

Ella sank into the bed, fully ashamed of her behavior. She'd acted like a brazen wonton hussy tonight and it sickened her. What _did _she feel for Jack? She hadn't a clue. There was one thing she was certain of, however. She could not seem to control her behavior around him and he could not seem to control his behavior, well...ever! Her gaze drifted to where he sat going through his things near the fire and she suddenly felt bad for taking his bed even though he had kidnaped her.

"Jack." She said softly as he turned to look at her with his compass still open. Throwing him a pillow, she said. "Well you can't very well sleep with your head on that hard floor, now can you?" He half grinned.

"Clearly you've never been to jail, love. G'night."

"Goodnight Captain." She replied, turning out her lamp.

* * *

"Any word my Lord?" Norrington asked when the man visited his home that night. Cutler Beckett shook his head.

"They are searching for the _Pearl, _and we suspect it should not be long before the ship is spotted. I have the strong suspicion that my fiancée is on that ship and I have every intention of watching Jack Sparrow hang from the gallows upon her return."He said with a smile. Charlotte Norrington sat quietly to the side and could not help thinking he looked too satisfied with this idea.

"What if he is not responsible?" James asked, scratching his chin.

"Either way...I will have Eleanore back Admiral...and I will have Sparrow killed." He lost the smile on his face as the spot on his neck, where Jack had left his mark tingled as he remembered the day he'd been hit by his own brand.

"_Sit down John...I'm sure it's been a long trip for you..." Beckett said as he rose from his seat behind his desk. _

"_Er...thanks." The young man said, toying with the buttons on his military coat. _

"_I heard that we seemed to have lost our cargo...is this true John?" The young man looked at his hands. _

"_Well...yes...but..." _

"_And how did you manage to lose the savages, John?" Beckett interrupted. The young man stood up angrily. _

"_Why are they savages? They were just trying to live their lives and I couldn't bring myself to shove them into those shelves below deck...I will follow any order you give, but people are not cargo Beckett!" He said and Cutler glared at him. _

"_It's Lord Beckett now...remember? The queen herself gave me that title..." He sighed, "Look John, I'm willing to give you another chance...and maybe if you play your cards right, I can have you promoted to Commodore..."_

"_I don't want your bloody promotions...I will not treat people like common goods..."_

_Beckett moved swiftly to the fireplace with his back to the young man. _

"_I don't want to have to do this John, really I don't but if you don't comply, I shall be forced to take action." He said softly and the young Captain narrowed his eyes. _

"_There is nothing you can do to change my mind." He said and he heard Beckett chuckle. _

"_Then I am afraid I have no choice...guards..." Two men moved to the young man's side and held him by the arms as he struggled. _

"_Beckett, you let go of me...I did nothing wrong...you are the monster!" One of the guards pulled John's sleeve back, exposing his forearm and held him steady as Beckett turned around wielding a pirate brand. _

"_Captain John Sparrow...from this day forward as a result of your betrayal to me and the East India Trading Company, you shall be known as a pirate and sentenced to death for your crimes." Without hesitation, Cutler pressed the hot brand onto the young man's arm as he screamed in pain. With one swift movement, he used his elbow to hit one of the guards' rib cage, knocking him over before kicking the other in the stomach and pulling out his sword as did Beckett and began to fight his new enemy. _

"_You disappoint me John, I thought you and I were alike...I thought I could trust you." Beckett said and John glared at him, pinning him against the wall and picking up the brand with his free hand before leaning in close to Beckett. _

"_You and I have nothing in common and I would rather spend ten thousand lifetimes as a pirate than to serve you and your damned company...and I will fight you until the day I die!" _

"_A rather fast approaching event, if I have anything to do with it." Beckett interjected as they began to fight again. As John went for Beckett with his sword the man swivelled out of his way but had forgotten that the young man still had the brand and the sudden sting of his burning flesh made him scream before turning back to try and fight, but John proved too quick with his young agility. _

"_You will always remember this as the day you almost defeated Captain John Sparrow." _

_Leaving the man to fall to the floor holding his neck, he walked out, closing the door behind him and pulling down the sleeve of his coat. He frowned, and threw the now useless garment off of him and noticed one of Beckett's charcoal coat on the hanger and pulled it off, wrapping it around himself. He loosened his black hair from the ties and let it hang at his shoulders before wrapping it in his own red scarf. Patting the pocket of his pants, he realized he still had some of the gold from one of his trades and grinned as he neared the docks. Eyeing a work ship, he strode to the man taking men onto the crew. _

"_I need to get to Tortuga." He told the man, who simply nodded. _

"_I'll need your name sir." Thinking a moment, John smiled. _

"_Jack. Jack Sparrow." _


	9. Getting Angry

"But, can you even do that James? I mean, don't you think Lord Beckett has some kind of grudge against Jack Sparrow?" Charlotte Norrington watched her husband pace about their sitting room, his wig in hand as he anticipated the departure that was set for two days later to go after the _Black Pearl. _  
"Yes, I do Char, but even if Jack were innocent as the day he was born, which he is not, he is still branded a pirate and the penalty for that is death. And besides, if he took Eleanore, I will kill him myself. She could barely handle living with our father for all those years alone, much less a crew of pirates…"

"James…killing Jack Sparrow will not make the anger you feel towards your father go away." She said softly, setting her needlepoint aside. He spun to look at her.  
"What did you say?" His voice was low with anger and surprise. She took a breath, reassuring herself.  
"I said, you cannot kill someone just because you are angry with your dead father." She repeated and he was suddenly kneeling before her, his eyes blazing.  
"How do you know about him?" He asked icily. She folded her hands into her lap, clenching her fists, wondering what he would do.

"Ella told me." She said shakily. Hurt filled his blue gray eyes as he backed away.  
"How could she?" He whispered. "She knows I wanted to leave all that behind." Charlotte softened, standing up.  
"What did he do to you?" She asked. He shook his head, turning away from her. His bottom lip was trembling and damned if he was going to show her.  
"What does it matter? He's dead." James replied, biting his lip. He jumped when her hand touched his shoulder and when he turned to look down at her, something in his eyes broke and he fell to his knees, putting his arms around her waist and resting his head against her middle, sobbing into the front of her dress.

"James…I'm sorry…I didn't know…and Ella didn't betray you, I asked her…oh I am so sorry, forgive me love…please." She cradled his head, allowing herself to entwine her fingers with his thick brown hair. After a few minutes, he calmed and brought her to sit down beside him, putting his head in her lap as she soothingly stroked his hair.  
"Do you really want to know Charlotte?" He asked, and she sighed.  
"Only if you want to tell me James." He sat up to face her and nodded.  
"When my mother was pregnant with me, she and my father had a fight and when she decided to leave, she was so distraught that she fell down the stairs and begin to bleed. They were sure she had miscarried, but sure enough, I was still alive and kicking…" He stopped a moment to sniffle.

"My father was convinced I would be born deformed or stupid because of her idiocy and when I was born normal, he remained sure that I had internal flaws. He was extremely hard on me and any time I acted out of line in his eyes, he brought out the switch." Stopping again, he took in his wife's expression which was one of horror.  
"Oh my God…" She said, her hand to her cheek.  
"Look Charlotte, Ella doesn't know this, but our mother didn't die of consumption. My father tired of her after she wasn't able to have children anymore and divorced her, sending her out of the country to God knows where. The morning she left, I came down the stairs before I was supposed to be up and saw her beginning to leave and began to cry. My father had to rip me from her arms and made me swear not to tell Ella anything…I had to watch my mother leave for good and I didn't even get to say goodbye to her. After that he had mistress after mistress…"

James sighed, looking at his wig.  
"From day one, he trained me to be a General. I don't think he ever called me son and I don't think I ever called him Father. It was always 'sir' or General Norrington. Ella called him Father. They were not close, but he did not treat her like he treated me, so she never knew quite the extent of his cruelty." He began to cry again, putting his face into his hands. Charlotte brought her arm around him.  
"Oh Jimmy, I am so sorry…" She said. He looked up at her in surprise.  
"You called me Jimmy…" Panic filled her.

"Oh…well…I just thought, I mean Ella calls you Jimmy and I've heard a few other of your friends call you Jim…I…I'm sorry."  
"No…I like it. Of course you can call me Jimmy…you are my wife after all." He said, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. She smiled sadly.  
"But...what about Elizabeth Swann...er...Turner?" She asked with much trepidation. He frowned.  
"What about her?" He asked in confusion. She sighed.  
"Everyone knows you still love her..." She said. He raised an eyebrow at her in surprise.  
"Charlotte...Elizabeth has made it quite clear who she wants in life and I have accepted that and moved on..." Charlotte bit her lip.  
"I just thought..." Gently, he placed his hand on her arm.  
"You thought wrong Char."

* * *

"This has got to stop..." Liz moaned as she leaned over the side of the boat heaving the contents of her stomach into the ocean for the second time that day. Jack, who had been standing aside give orders to Gibbs made a face as Will stood sympathetically by his wife.  
"You almost 'ave to wonder if s'worth it...eh mate?" He quipped to Will. Liz glared at him, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.  
"You are a pig..." She said as the nausea came over her again and she was once again throwing up.

"You just take it up like this and then pull it through..." Ella's small voice caught all of their attention as they turned to see what she was talking about. Jack's jaw dropped as he realized she was showing a few of them needlepoint. Particularly Pintel and Rigetti were enthralled.  
"I never thought I'd see the day..." Will mused, half a smile on his face. The look on Jack's face was one of less amusement.  
"She's turning my men into bloody women...er, no offense Lizzie..." He added as she scowled.  
"None taken..." She grumbled at him.

"Alright you lot...back to work." He said, clapping his hands and walking into the middle of their small sewing circle. He smirked at Pintel and Rigetti.  
"Must I even ask?" He inquired and Ella stepped in shyly.  
"They asked if I would show them how I do the needlepoint, so I did…though I do deeply apologize if it's disrupted your orders…" She said softly, the brazen behavior from the previous night forgotten. He almost wondered if she remembered anything that had happened by the way she acted.  
"Nonsense love…just don't want me men turning into sissies…" He said, hiding a snicker as Pintel and Rigetti scattered back into the crew.

"Ella m'dear…I think we have to have a talk…" He said throwing an arm over her shoulder, which she retreated from. The blood had drained from her face.  
"Captain…I believe I asked you to refer to me as Eleanore…and we have nothing to discuss…" She said and his mouth dropped open. He looked baffled, final able to spit out,  
"Was it something I said?" He asked nonchalantly and before he could say another word, she fled into the quarters, slamming the door behind her.  
"That went well…" Sea Sponge said, taking a swig of his rum as he came up behind his son.  
"The bloody girl has moods like the sea…up one minute…down the other…"

"She's never been able to express her feelings Jack…" Elizabeth chimed in, feeling better. "She lived in fear of her father's wrath every day of her life, so she can't show when she's angry or upset…James told me a bit about it. It's why he left England so readily." Jack wiped the sweat from his face with the back of his hand before turning to Sea Sponge and Will.  
"How do I look?" He asked, striking a sarcastic pose. The men just looked at him. He nodded. "Perfect." He added, before striding into the quarters. Elizabeth looked at her husband and Jack's father as all three of them shrugged.

"Eleanore!" Jack said throwing the door to his quarters open, and found her sitting on the edge of the bed staring at the wall.  
"Go away Captain." She replied, hugging her arms around her body. He crossed his and leaned against the wall.  
"I know you remember what went on last night, le's not tell lies shall we?" He said and she looked up at him helplessly.  
"I…I don't know what you mean." She said, not even confident enough to convince herself.  
"Yes you do and s'long as you keep denyin' it, I won't leave you alone, savvy?" He chuckled to himself. "Then again, maybe you don't really want me to leave, d'ya love?" He asked and she turned away crossing her legs in front of her.

"But then, maybe you do want me to leave, because that way you can hide your feelings from the world, and just go about life like a corked bottle o'rum…and what good is a corked bottle o'rum really?" He jabbered on and she gave him a look.  
"I do not hide my feelings." She said, a hint of defiance in her voice. He grinned, inviting himself to sit on the bed beside her.  
"Now…we're getting somewhere…" He said, offering her a swig of the rum. She winced and shook her head.  
"No…er thank you?" She said, uncomfortably. He simply shrugged and drank for himself.

"If you are angry then you should say, 'Jack I am bloody pissed at you!'" He said, mimicking a woman's voice. She smiled to her dismay.  
"It's not _you_ I am angry at for last night Captain…" She said, getting up as did he.  
"So you do remember then?" She looked at him.  
"I remember the bar and the ale…and then…not much…" She admitted. He scratched his chin.  
"So you do not remember begging me to kiss you in the rain?" She stood straighter and an idea formed in his mind.

"You certainly did…you were throwing yourself at me like a common hussy…why you shamed even Gisele and Scarlett last night!" He goaded her on as the anger in her eyes became more apparent, but what she did next was not what he expected. She threw her arms up and turned toward him again.  
"Y-you're right…" She said in defeat. "My behavior was inexcusable…" She said quieting and moved back away. He looked at his rum.  
"That's it then? I'm right, you're wrong?" He asked, baffled. She nodded.  
"You win…"

"El'nore, I wasn't calling you a hussy, I was trying to get you angry…" He said, drinking from his beloved bottle. She looked confused now.  
"You wanted me to yell at you?" She asked and he shrugged.  
"Yell, scream, break a bottle over my head…I don't really give a twig, love…" He said and she stood again.  
"Why do you even care, Jack?" She asked moving toward him.  
"Because you'll feel a load better if you do." He explained and now her eyes were laced with anger.

"I am so fretfully tired of people telling me how I should and shouldn't feel…how I should live my life…what I should wear…what I should do!" She said advancing on him as he nearly tripped over a pair of shoes as he backed away from her.  
"Yes…that's it, love!" He said as her hands balled into tiny fist.  
"I am sick of having to stand aside as the world crumbles beneath my feet…being engaged to someone just so society won't think me a spinster!" She spat out and he grinned.  
"Exactly! And?" He pressed on.

"And…I am sick of being quiet and nice all the time so no one ever fights…and saying, 'Yes Jimmy', or 'Of course, Jimmy'…" He nodded, with a grin.  
"And…?"  
"And…most of all…I am sick of being alone." She said in a quieter tone. He stopped grinning as her bottom lip began to quiver and she suddenly had her face buried in his shirt, he heard her whisper.  
"I don't want to be alone anymore Jack."


	10. Revelations

"I don't want to be alone anymore Jack."

For once in his life, Jack didn't know how to get out of the situation he was currently in with Ella clutching the lapels of his coat and crying softly. He wasn't touching her, or holding her and in fact, he was terrified at even the thought of it, but he certainly couldn't pull away from her. It reminded him of a time when he was a boy and he'd seen a poor little dog stuck under a fence. He couldn't just leave it there, so he helped it out and took it home. He missed that little dog, who he had named Poseidon for his love of the sea. So what was he supposed to do now? For whatever reason, he brought his arms up from his sides to support the girl's shoulders as they rose and fell with her sobs.

Clearing his throat, he eyed his bottle of rum helplessly and said,

"Uh...there, there love...don't worry about it. You'll find some young buck who will fall head over boots for you and you'll get married and reproduce just like everyone else in the natural world. Of course, that life isn't for everyone..._I'm _alone and I am just fine thank you very much..." She looked up at him tearfully.

"You don't want to fall in love?" She asked innocently and he chuckled.

"Not really a matter of want so much as can't, pet...I mean, my current line of work doesn't exactly allow for a wife and three pups now, does it?" She sniffed.

"Well, no not exactly..."

"You see...we could be great friends, you and I...you understand..." He joked, patting her shoulders and handing her his somewhat filthy handkerchief which she gladly accepted and offered back to him when she was finished. He cringed.

"No, no love...you keep it." He said with a shudder.

"What about the compass?" She asked suddenly. He shrugged.

"What about it?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Well...it pointed to me...I mean, don't you ever wonder if it means anything?" She asked and he sat down at the table, an amused smirk on his face.

"It means I'm headed straight for Hades...I am anyway, once they catch me..." He said, his voice still light and uncaring. She sighed and sat down.

"How I wish things were simple like they used to be, before marriage and spinsters and parties and Cutler Beckett...I miss the freedom of being a child. Going to lessons and birthday parties...doing chores and taking care of my father, evil as he was." She looked up at him. "Sometimes I wish I were like Liz...able to rebel..."

"Liz'beth can be a very trying girl...trust me...she tied me to my ship and allowed a beast to eat me alive..."

"I'm sure she had a good reason." Ella said softly. He tipped his bottle to her.

"Well, there is that...but nonetheless..."

"You're impossible." She said with half a smile as she fidgeted with one of the candlestick holders on the table. He grinned.

"I's quite simple really love...just admit your true lust for me and I will happily oblige your pleas..." She just rolled her eyes at his obvious joke.

"No, I'll pass thank you Captain..." She said, and he frowned.

"Look, if you don't want to marry Beckett, then don't. It's not as if he's the almighty king." He spat out Beckett's name like venom. She winced.

"It's not that simple Captain..." She went on. "Look, I wouldn't have thought anything about this whole thing, but that compass pointed to me Jack. For a reason...it was created by Aphrodite herself!" She sighed. "Before I came to the Caribbean those Gods and Goddesses were just stories, pretty fairytales. I went to church every Sunday and believed what I was supposed to believe. Then, I came here and you kissed me that night and everything just...changed. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I felt something for you that I hadn't felt since...well, in a long time."

"Someone hurt you lass, didn't they?" Jack said, recognizing the heartbroken look in her eyes.

"Forget I said anything Jack...just forget it...I have to go..." She said, getting up and attempting to walk past him. He grabbed a hold of her wrist and pulled her into his lap, trapping her escape.

"Tell me." He said, pushing his rum aside. It was empty anyhow. She rolled her eyes.

"Nothing...it's just...I was engaged...before...to a Lieutenant...he wanted me to...you know to...do...things...with him." Jack nodded.

"Yes...that is generally what men look forward to in life..." He replied. She glared at him a moment.

"We were to be married in two weeks time...but he told me if I loved him that I would come to him, so I went."

"Ah, the old if you love me routine..." Jack chuckled.

"Yes...well, somewhere between my dress and corset, my conscience got the better of me and I told him to stop but he didn't. I begged him to but he only became more determined. I thought he was going to rape me...he _was_ going to rape me...but my father walked in. Of course I was blamed, being the girl...I received seventeen lashings with the switch. One for every year I had shamed my father. Father had a heart attack and was never the same and I spent my time caring for him. Samuel, my fiancé got a girl pregnant not long after that and was forced by her parents to marry her. They live in England." She stopped, realizing she was sitting in the Captain's lap as if it were the most casual thing to do.

"Your old man beat you?" He asked, nearly horrified. Even in his filthiest moments as a pirate, he'd never laid a hand on the fairer sex, though Anamaria had tempted him many a time.

"Only when I was bad..." She said lamely. "You know what frightens me the most though, Captain?" She asked.

He looked at her expectantly.

"Lord Beckett is just like my father..." She said and Jack thoughtfully played with his beard.

"Seems to me love that you have a decision to make, and I can't make it for you pet. I also wish there was something I could do, but I have nothing to offer you..." Carefully, he lifted her small body from his lap. "Now, I'll leave you to your thoughts Ella..." He said beginning to leave, rather, flee from this situation. She frowned at losing the warmth he'd provided.

"Jack?" She asked and he turned around, dreading what she was going to say.

"Yes?" He asked and she sighed.

"Could you send Elizabeth in here? I must speak with her." He nodded, making her smile.

"Thank you."

* * *

"Why Governor Swann, we've just received word from your daughter. Also, Lord Beckett is here to discuss your retirement..." Weatherby Swann's butler came into the room with a letter, which he snatched from the man, frowning at the word retirement.

"Finally...what does she say?" He asked and began to read it.

_Father, _

_Don't worry, Will and I are fine. Please keep this confidential but let James Norrington know that his sister is safe. Also, Will and I have a bit of news...your dreams of becoming a grandfather are soon to be a reality. I am expecting. _

_All our love, _

_Elizabeth and Will_

Weatherby had to wipe away the tears in his eyes at the joy her news had brought him and set the note on the end table in his library as he was interrupted.

"Governor, how good it is to see you." Cutler Beckett said, stepping into the library.

"Thank you my Lord, what is all of this nonsense I hear about my retiring...?" He asked and Beckett sat down.

"Precisely...as you probably have guessed...my political career has been quite fruitful these past few years and I have decided to further it by becoming Governor once you retire."

"But Lord Beckett, I have no plans to..."

"You do now, Governor...you see it's the saddest thing...you ordered all of those slaves with nowhere to house them until they are sold into the colonies. Everyone knows you've gone senile. Not to mention illegally giving money to pirates."

"I never ordered any slaves ever or gave money to pirates...it's a disgusting trade...it's..."

"Oh I beg to differ...here are the forms which you signed allowing these things to happen." Weatherby looked at the forms and gasped.

"You...you forged my signature on these things..."

"What proof do you have? Now, I suggest you go begin practicing your resignation speech." He said as the Governor glared at him.

"You're going to pay for this Beckett! You're nothing but a crook!"

"Ah, but a clever crook..." He said as the Governor left the room hastily. A piece of paper caught Beckett's eye as he unfolded it from the end table. A slow smile formed on his face as he read it.

"Now I have you my sweet..."

* * *

"Are you...sober?" Sea Sponge asked as he came to his son's side where he stood on the upper deck of the ship.

"Barely..." Jack said, trying to hide his sobriety. As he looked at his father, he tried to remember his mother and how they had been the times that they'd been together. His mother, Cora, had been an English heiress and his father a fisherman, as far as she knew anyhow. She'd been a beauty with honey blonde hair and light skin and he remembered her singing a lot. His father had looked, well, like him. Dark hair and eyes with tanned skin and a beard. His father had been quite a bit older than his mother who had been just fifteen when she married Grant Sparrow and bore him a son, who she named John after her father. Her father had disowned her and Cora had followed her new husband back to the Caribbean to live. He'd cherished her above everything, and in her entire life, she never knew her husband was a pirate.

Grant had always managed to convince his bonny lass that he was just a humble fisherman and he'd never been caught. She was a soft spoken girl, who had a love for life that Grant had seldom seen. Since he was gone nearly six months out of the year, the five months they had together was taken advantage of and they'd had another child after John, who they had called Bess, but she'd died at the age of three unexpectedly when she'd contracted Scarlet Fever. His mother hadn't had any children after Bess.

John had also grown up thinking his father was a fisherman, and had found himself a natural sailor, learning from observation. When he was fifteen, he enrolled in the Navy and was trained to be a Lieutenant, but was soon promoted to Captain. Just before his promotion, Cora had fallen ill with something that the doctors couldn't diagnose...there was no treatment and six months later, she was gone. Grant fell into a despair and had disappeared from Port Royal, vowing never to return and leaving John with the house. Soon after his promotion, he found out his own father was one of the most notorious pirates in the Caribbean. They'd lost all contact then, until Beckett had turned against John and sunk his ship, _The Wicked Wench. _Vowing to fight Beckett until the day he died, John joined a band of pirates and soon came face to face with Davy Jones himself.

Jones had raised the _Wench, _for a price of course. He renamed her _The Black Pearl. _

"She's been in there for two hours...what can they be doing?" Jack asked no one in particular, though he received a peculiar look from Mr. Gibbs.

"Ye must be kiddin' Cap'n...those lasses cud blather for days if ye lets 'em." He said, attending to the crew. Will looked up from where he was fixing a break in his sword.

"Elizabeth won't be much longer...I know her." He said and sure enough, as soon as he said it, the two women emerged from inside the chambers and embraced. Elizabeth made her way to Will and sat beside him as Ella stepped up to Sea Sponge.

"Rather nice today, isn't it Captain?" She asked and he nodded pleasantly.

"Indeed love..." She turned to Jack.

"I believe we need to talk." She said and he looked uncomfortable, following her.

"Wha's this about pet?" He asked, once inside the confines of his private chambers.

"I have considered my options and made a decision Captain..." She said softly, nervously.

"Wonderful, and this has what to do with me?" He asked and she sighed.

"Everything..." Going on, she said, "I want to help you Captain...but you don't seem to want my help...however, with Liz's persuasion, I have decided that I will persist."

"Meaning?"

"What is your favorite dinner Captain? I shall make it tonight." She said and he frowned.

"I don't see how this has anything to do..."

"I have decided to stay with you...no protests until we have resolved this compass problem of yours...now I'll ask again, what is your favorite dinner?" He groaned and pulled a fresh bottle of rum from his rack.

"Surprise me love..."


	11. The Harm of a Kiss

"Well, we didn't really have much to make..." Ella said disdainfully, shuddering at her memory of the dusty pantry. Elizabeth snorted knowingly, rolling her eyes at Jack.

"Did you really think there would be Ella?" She asked with a laugh. Ella shrugged.

"I don't know really Liz..." She said, "But I did managed to find this." She added, triumphantly holding up a brand new, unopened bottle of rum. Jack's eyes instantly lit up.

"Tha's even better!" He exclaimed, snatching it from her and eyeing it lovingly.

"God that's pathetic." Liz said dryly, as she, Ella and Will watched him take a sip.

"You're jus' jealous, love." He slurred at her, nodding at Ella. "Lizzie had 'er chance with me...but she choose good William here, right lad?" He asked Will teasingly. Will shook his head and hid a smirk. Jack Sparrow would never change.

"You frighten me..." Liz said, turning to leave and Jack nodded.

"As you do, me..." He replied before motioning Ella to sit as Liz and Will left. "Have a sit?" Laughing nervously, she obliged.

"So tell me about your childhood Captain." She said, folding her hands in her lap. He made a face.

"Not so much to tell...my mother's name was Cora...she was a good woman...too good. You remind me of her, matter o'fact." He said and she gave a small chuckle.

"Me?"

"Aye. Not so much yer looks but jus' the way ye are...quiet...good..." He took a long sip of rum. "My father loved 'er somethin' terrible, but she died when I was young. Ah...no need to drag that up..." He said, getting out of his chair. Ella frowned.

"You run from your pain." She observed. He turned to look at her with a pout.

"Do not."

"Yes you do." She replied, not missing a beat.

"Do _not._" He said, coming closer to her as she stood up and grinned at him.

"_Do too._" She said, folding her arms across her chest. He sighed, showing defeat as he began to turn away and as she began to revel in her victory, he turned back around and said,

"Do not." Sticking his tongue out, he took another drink and sat in a nearby chair, singing to himself. She simply shook her head, allowing a small smirk to play on her lips as she cleaned up.

"You're awful pretty when you smile like that..." Jack slurred tiredly, fighting an alcohol induced exhaustion.

"Flattery will not get me into your bed, Captain..." She said lightly, suppressing a laugh.

"Not even if I say please, pet?" He asked watching her dust off the table. She stopped to look at him calmly with kind eyes.

"No..." He eyed her for a minute and thought, a grin creeping over his handsome face. She hated to admit that, even as filthy as Jack Sparrow seemed, no amount of dirt or grime could hide his boyish good looks. She imagined he must have been something of a beautiful man in his days with the East India Trading Company, and couldn't help thinking what good a bath could do him.

"What are you staring at love?" He asked, his head cocked to the side. Startled, she jumped in horror at the realization that she was gaping at him like some dolt.

"I...nothing Captain. Just thinking is all." She said, returning to her task of dusting.

"What about a kiss?" He asked, making her whirl about in surprise.

"What do you mean?" She asked, backing up and nearly tumbling over the table as he rose gracefully from his chair. Too graceful for a drunk man.

"You said flattery would not get you into my bed, but how about a kiss?" There was a teasing tone in his voice and he was so close that she could smell the rum on his breath, which was, to her surprise an intoxicating smell.

"C-captain Sparrow...I am not going to be another notch on your belt...I-I can't..." She stammered helplessly, gripping the table.

"What harm can a kiss do?" He asked, setting down the near empty bottle of rum. Her eyes flitted from his to the door and back to his eyes.

"Captain...I...it can do plenty of harm...please...I don't want you to hurt me!" She said suddenly, escaping him and facing the wall, tears coming to her eyes as she remembered Samuel. She sighed and rested her forehead against the cool wood of the wall.

"Look Captain, I know you don't take much seriously...but I can't risk that...I can't risk..." She stopped talking to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat.

"What can't you risk?" He asked, his voice completely different than it had been a minute ago.

"I can't...I can't fall...I just can't!" She said and her stuttering confirmed what he had realized. She was afraid to love him. Not that he wanted her to, Hell...he'd just wanted to kiss her pretty lips.

"Oh...I see." He said, moving closer to her, but in a less threatening way. Putting a hand on her shoulder, he sighed.

"I used to be like you Eleanore. I did. I was so serious...my work was my life and I loved my work. When I was seventeen I fell in love with a girl. I had planned to ask her to marry me, but it was revealed her father had committed some crime and was to be sent back to England to be tried. She begged me to do something to save him, since his intentions had been good. I wanted to, but I was so set in my belief in the King's law, that I did nothing. And I lost her. She married, of course, and had her babies...while I was still alone. After I left Port Royal and the East India Trading Company, I realized that life is too short to be serious all of the time, and I vowed to enjoy the rest of my life. And I have...at least until you came into the picture..."

Angrily, she turned to face him with tears of frustration in her eyes.

"Well, I am sorry to inconvenience you Captain..." She said bitterly.

"I'm not." He said slowly as she glared at him.

"You're not what?" She asked sharply, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her dress.

"Not sorry...not sorry a bit...you see, I went about it all wrong...I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my piratey ways...but what I should have done was face my problems and fight for myself. Cutler Beckett needs to be exposed for the scum of the earth he is...sweetheart...I've been to Hell and back again and you are the least of my worries..."

As she sniffled, he noticed the way the light from the sunset surrounded her like an ethereal halo, and she became a goddess like creature. It was almost as if Aphrodite herself was standing before him. The gold light surrounded the rust colored of her hair, making it seem brilliant red. The blue of her eyes gave the illusion of glowing as her skin took on the golden hue as well.

"Your fiancé was a fool." Jack said sincerely. Her eyes widened.

"Meaning what?" She asked, a tremor in her voice.

"Well love, to put it plainly, if he could see you the way I am seeing you right now...he'd die. Just one kiss, love, please?"

Jack was secretly horrified that he had been reduced to begging a girl for a small kiss when he could just as easily go back to Tortuga and pick up a wench or two. Or four as had once happened but that was another, quite long, story. She sighed in confusion and defeat.

"Just one kiss...quickly please." She consented, closing her eyes and puckering her lips. A sight that would have been quite comical to him had he not wanted her so badly. The innocence of her astounded him.

To his surprise, he was able to be calm and gently took her delicate face into both of his hands and pressed the softest of kisses to her lips, which were delightfully full and lush. As their lips touched, an entirely different feeling came over Jack. First there was the undeniable lust he always felt when he kissed a girl, but there was something else. It was overwhelming and he couldn't quite decide what it was, but judging from the way she was clinging to his shirt as she had the first time they had kissed at Admiral Norrington's wedding reception, she'd felt it too. As both were quite swept up in their small moment of euphoria, neither noticed that the compass, which had been sitting on the table, took on a quite slower sort of a spin, now alternating back and forth.

Breathlessly pulling apart, they stared at each other in utter disbelief and Ella realized that she was clutching both of Jack's hands.

"Oh Ella, I..." He began at a loss for words. She smiled, flushed and nodded.

"Something just happened here didn't it?" She asked and he nodded, toying with his beard. All of his years of pirating went out of his head and nothing but the boy he'd left in Port Royal was left behind.

"Eleanore, you make me want to be a good man again..." He said, looking at her with an adoration he'd once seen his father look at his mother with. Tentatively, she touched his cheek with a small sad smile.

"You always were a good man, Jack Sparrow...or should I say, John..." A sly smirk crept over his face.

"No one has called me that name since the day I left."

"Jack, I..." She began shyly, in her quiet way.

"What is it, pet?" He asked, twirling a piece of the brilliant mahogany hair between his index finger and thumb.

"I think I want to stay with you...indefinitely..." She said his mouth dropped.

"As in forever? As in, until eternity or some nonsense?" He said, his nerves getting to him. This was a woman, asking him to commit to her. There was no way...Jack Sparrow didn't settle down, he was a pirate. His love was his ship, and the sea. And yet, he found himself replying calmly to her.

"I want you to stay." He said in response, claiming her lips once again, not knowing what he'd just gotten himself into. He didn't even want to think about it, he wanted nothing more that to drink in this moment and enjoy her time with him. God knew he couldn't allow her to stay...though he found himself begging the Gods for a way to be with her and still be himself.

As luck would have it, fate made his decision for him and the sound of distant cannons, brought both of them out of their world. Taking her hand and not caring who saw, Jack led her out onto the deck where Gibbs and his father stood brooding.

"What's the fuss?" He asked Gibbs, who pointed to the approaching H.M.S. Interceptor, no doubt headed by Admiral Norrington himself. Silently, he cursed his fate and gripped Ella's hand. The color had drained from her face. Elizabeth and Will stood closely by and also watch as they approached.

"It seems we've been discovered Mr. Gibbs..." Jack said regretfully, squinting into the sunset.


	12. One Life for Another

"Elizabeth, take Ella back into Jack's quarters…" Will said, tightening his arm around his wife.

"But Will…"

"I don't want you out here to see any of this and I certainly don't want her out here to see this." He said, nodding toward the horrified expression on Eleanore's face as she clutched Jack's hand. It was odd, to see Jack holding hands with someone as opposed to trying to get a feel of her but in a way, it was nice. Elizabeth relented and took Ella by the hand, pulling her away from Jack before she could resist.

As the ship neared them, Will groaned, because it was evident that Cutler Beckett had accompanied Ella's brother to retrieve his fiancée.

"Bugger…" Jack muttered, cracking his knuckles.

"See what happens when you toy with other mens' women, 'specially that little bastard…" Grant said, wiping his hands on his pants.

"Aye sir…you'll be lucky if he decides to hang you quickly…" Gibbs agreed. Jack shrugged as the ships moved beside each other and the two men climbed onto the _Black Pearl._.

"What have you done with her Sparrow?" Lord Beckett asked arrogantly, Jack could not help but smirk.

"Why what ever do you mean…_Cutler?_" He replied in his girliest voice.

"I know you have her…" He replied as Norrington joined him.

"Yes…I swear Sparrow, if you have hurt her, or sold her or anything, I will kill you myself!" James barked and Beckett put a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves Admiral, shall we?"

"Jack, just tell them she's alright…" Will whispered anxiously. Jack simply crossed his arms.

"Let's say I do have said lass…what do I get out of the deal?" Beckett grinned evilly.

"You get to live until your hanging in three days." Jack pretended to think a moment.

"Then no…I have not seen or heard from Miss Norrington. Maybe you should try the Pirates over on the _Golden Goddess…_I've heard they like a good kidnapping…" He said casually, beginning to turn away. Angered, Beckett cocked his pistol and pointed it at Jack.

"Give me my wife…fiancée…or die now…"

"_No!_" An angry feminine voice interrupted the moment.

"Ella!" James cried from across the ship. She smiled at him a moment before glaring at Lord Becket.

"Put the gun down this moment! You can all go back to Port Royal, because I am not coming back!"

"_Ella!_" James cried in horror. "What do you mean?" Her expression remained stone cold.

"I mean it…I am staying here…I am sorry Lord Beckett…but I will not be marrying you…" She said defiantly…feeling a surge of triumph in her heart.

"Don't be ridiculous…you can't possibly want to stay with this filth? He's a pirate for God's sake!" Beckett replied in a mix of anger and confusion.

"You know as well as I do, that is not true Cutler…_you _branded him a pirate when _you _were the real villain…how could I marry you? I can't even look at you." She spat at him. With newfound anger, Lord Beckett pointed the gun at Jack again and roughly grabbed her arm. She cried out in pain.

"Now you listen to me and you listen well, Eleanore…you are marrying _me…_you will bear _my _sons and you will be obedient…"

"Let her go mate…" Jack said in quiet defeat. If Lord Beckett heard this, he made no indication.

"Do you understand me?" He asked, holding the pistol with one hand and shaking her small frame with the other. Fire welled in her eyes and finding all of the courage she had, she spit into his face.

"No, I'm afraid I don't you sadistic bastard…" She growled, facing him with a fierce determination that James had never seen in her before. The Admiral had no idea what he should do…he wanted to be loyal to Ella and her wishes, but he could not bring himself to see her married or living in sin with a pirate. The scandal would ruin them, and he could not put Charlotte through it…especially when she had been feeling so sick.

"Then maybe you'll understand this…you will marry me…or you will watch Jack Sparrow die right now…" He said quietly, sending a chill up her spine.

"Now that doesn't seem like a fair trade…" Jack quipped.

"Shut up you!" Beckett cried, near hysterics as Ella looked at the man she'd once thought was decent in sheer terror. "What is it Eleanore…? Marriage or the death of your beloved pirate…?" He laughed, seeing how he couldn't lose. Jack was going to die either way, she just didn't know it.

"Don't do it, love…" Jack said warningly, but as her eyes flitted from side to side, she found it extremely hard to breathe.

"You're making this more difficult than it has to be Ella…yes or no…?" Beckett urged and, Elizabeth, who was watching in horror, fainted into her husband's arms in an attempt to divert Beckett's attention. It didn't work.

"Don't…" Jack said straightly, Ella had to tear her eyes away because, as much as she hated to admit it…she had come to care for Captain Sparrow.

"I will marry you, my Lord." She said in defeat, hanging her head. Jack's mouth dropped open.

"I knew you would make a rational decision my pet…"

"On _one_ condition." She said, looking up again, the fire still in her eyes.

"Being what?" He asked haughtily.

"You will drop all charges against this man and everyone else on this ship, who is to be charged. You will drop these charges or I will kill myself as well."

"Ella!" James cried, horrified.

"Do we have a deal, Lord Beckett?" She asked and after a moment of glaring at her, Beckett motioned for his man to come forward with the decrees charging Jack and some of the others. Taking them, he held them up and ripped them all down the middle, tossing them into the water.

"Done."

"Eleanore, why are you doing this?" Jack asked, fighting the emotion that threatened to surface. She smiled sadly.

"Because you deserve a chance to be the man you were destined to be. Goodbye Jack…" She said, turning quickly to hide her quivering lip. She quickly joined her brother and did not look back.

"Congratulations Sparrow…for now. No doubt you will be in trouble again soon enough, if you aren't already." He began to walk away but remembered something.

"Oh, and Sparrow? I win." He boarded the _H.M.S. Interceptor _again triumphantly.

Elizabeth joined Jack's side as he watched them move away from the _Pearl._

"Are you just going to let him take her? Are you all just going to stand there and watch her leave?" She asked angrily. Jack turned listlessly to her, all of the adventure gone from his eyes and said,

"Yes…what kind of life would she have known here? She needs to be taken care of. I can't do that Lizzie…I have nothing to offer her…Beckett is an unimaginable prick, but he will provide for her."

"_You _are an unimaginable idiot Jack Sparrow…" Liz spat at him. "She just saved your life. The least you could do is save hers." Jack shook his head, sighing.

"Maybe I just did by letting her go…" With that, he disappeared into his chambers.

* * *

Ella tried not to cry as she sat in the corner of the _H.M.S. Interceptor_ and stared at the wood on the deck of this ship. It was almost identical to that of the _Black Pearl, _

"Ella?" James's voice interrupted her thoughts. She couldn't bring herself to look at him.

"Go away Jimmy." She said, hugging her arms around herself.

"Please…I was only trying to…"

"I know what you were trying to do…what everyone tries to do to me. You were trying to make my choices for me. Father did it, Cutler has done it and now you are doing it too…you could have stood up for me…and Jack."

"_Jack?_ You think I would possibly stand up for that filthy pirate?" He asked in irritation. She rose immediately, livid with him.

"He is _not _a pirate! At least he wasn't! You don't even know the whole story!" She said, walking away from him, unable to deal with him at the moment.

"What do you mean Ella?"

"Do you always believe what people say? I mean, people with authority? Would you believe Lord Beckett if he told you I was a gutter prostitute?"

"Of course not Ella…" James tried to reason.

"If Jack Sparrow was a pirate, so am I…" She said and he gently grabbed her arm.

"Ella, you're not making any sense…" He said softly and she grabbed both of his shoulders.

"Did you know that Captain Sparrow is _really _a Captain?" She asked and he frowned.

"Of course, it's his ship, I mean…"

"No Jimmy, a _Captain…_in the Queen's Navy? Did you know that?" She asked roughly. He looked at her in disbelief.

"That's…impossible…quite." He said softly. She rolled her eyes.

"Of course it is…because Beckett told you so…" She accused and he looked at her defensively.

"Now wait a minute Eleanore…" Her hand came up to silence him.

"His name was _John _Sparrow…" When recognition came to his eyes, she smiled. "Ah, you do know the name…he was twenty years old at the time Beckett branded him a pirate…" She said and he shook his head.

"It can't be…the famous John Sparrow? The man who saved fifteen people in a burning church all those years ago? We were all told he was lost at sea on a voyage to Africa…I never knew what he looked like…he was gone before I came here." Ella, seeing her brother's innocence nodded.

"Sit down Jimmy, I am going to tell you everything…"


	13. Sell Your Soul

**Sorry it sucks...but when I finish the whole fic, I will go back and edit the ENTIRE thing.**

Eleanore stayed on deck as long as she could, until the last golden strands of the sun setting were gone, for she dreaded the moment she had to join Lord Beckett in his chambers as he had requested her company for dinner. James had gone off to bed, complaining of a terrible headache. She knew that he felt guilty for what he'd done. Sighing, she decided to go in and face her fate. Squinting into the distance, she tried to see the black sails of the _Pearl, _but evening fog had rolled in and covered everything. Pulling her shawl around her shoulders, she crept to the door of her renewed fiancé's chambers, but stopped, hearing him talking to someone.

"Well, conveniently in two days time, before Ella and I are married, Governor Swann will be resigning from his title and consequently, I will be taking over for him." Cutler's voice came. Another officer's voice came with a chuckle.

"It does impress me, how you managed to forge his signature on those documents and convince him to retire. Lord knows...he wasn't going to do it on his own." Ella stifled a gasp by putting her hand over her mouth.

"Yes well, I was taught that if you want something, you have to take it and get it any way you can...that's what I did with Eleanore...and to think, she thought she could get out of it?" Both men laughed at the thought. "I always beat Sparrow..." Cutler said and clicked his glass with the other man's.

Desperately, Ella considered throwing herself to the mercy of the sea for a moment.

"Oh Jack, I am so sorry I'll never get to tell you...I think I've fallen in love with you..." Her thoughts were interrupted by a man clearing their throat. She swivelled about to face the man she'd come to loathe.

"Ah Ella...come in my dear...we do have much to discuss..." Beckett said, pulling her in by the arm and looking at her suspiciously.

* * *

Meticulously planning out his heading with Mr. Gibbs, Jack halfheartedly nodded his head at what Gibbs was saying, though he hadn't a clue. His eyes were fixated on the compass, ever lying open.

"Cap'n, what are ye lookin' at if ye don't my me askin'?" Gibbs asked and Jack's bejeweled finger pointed to his trinket, which had stopped spinning and was now ticking back and forth.

"What's it mean, Cap'n?" He asked suspiciously and Jack shrugged.

"Not so sure mate, but I think it's a sign that I should be drunk right now..."

"Not quite Jack Sparrow..." Tia Dalma was suddenly before them, her face grim.

"Now, how did you do that?" Jack asked, half impressed.

"Mah-gic..." She said with a grin. "You in trouble Jack..." He smiled vaguely.

"You're telling me, love. We're out of rum and my compass went all ticky and such." He said, remaining aloof.

"Precisely..." Tia Dalma replied solemnly, "It mean something, but I cahn't tell you what...you let 'er go, Jack...why?" Calmly, Jack turned to his first mate.

"Mr. Gibbs, could you be so kind as to give Tia Dalma and I a private moment?" Jack asked through gritted teeth. Sometimes, he wanted to strangle the woman.

"Aye sir." Gibbs said and left.

"Why Jack?" She asked again and he sighed in irritation.

"Tia Dalma, can you please just leave well enough alone?" He asked and she growled.

"No! You come too far jus' to lose like 'dis...after bein' rescued from limbo an' the belly of 'dat beast...you could beat 'dis! I work too hard to bring you back jus' for you to sell your soul to Hades." Jack snorted.

"Let's be practical, shall we? Why would any respectable girl want to throw away any semblance of normalcy to become the woman of a pirate? She'd never know if I was faithful, if I was dead or alive...no, I can't go back to that life of taking orders, of living under someone else's terms. I am not John Sparrow anymore."

"Yes you are...your soul is de same...and so are you...but et es time to compromise...and stop running..."

"Running from what?" He retorted and she smirked.

"Love?" Before he could protest, her hand went up to silence him as she said, "Dat compass stop spinning for a reason...think about it...someone had to confess aloud..." He shook his head and turned away but when he looked back at her she had disappeared again. Angrily, he threw his empty bottle of rum at the wall and put his hands over his face to think.

"Gibbs!" He called out in defeat, staring at the damned compass.

"Aye Cap'n?"

"Go get Lizzie and young William...and hurry will you? We have work to do...plans to make...confessions to make...bugger."

* * *

"The less you have to say to me, the better..." Ella said, sitting quickly on the settee in Beckett's chambers.

"Oh ho! Well? Someone has a bit of gaul after the horrid way she behaved this evening! But not to worry...I forgive you." He said casually. She glared at him.

"You...forgive _me?_ You blackmailed me into marrying you...I'm not exactly grateful." Beckett chuckled.

"Oh Eleanore, you are so very stupid...did you think that Jack Sparrow would leave his life of piracy for you? I can give you the life you need...and you will do the same for me." Looking at her hands, she said bravely,

"I will do what I must...if it will end your need to ruin Jack Sparrow...or is it John?"

"Jack's crimes will catch up with him sooner or later, Eleanore, nothing you nor I do will change that. Those who commit crimes must be punished."

"They are your crimes he will pay for!" She said angrily and he grinned.

"You are rather pretty when you're angry, though I suppose I shall have to train you. A governor's wife cannot be a rebel, like the current governor's daughter." He said coldly.

"What do you mean, governor's wife?" She asked in a whisper. He poured himself a glass of brandy.

"Once Governor Swann resigns, I will be replacing him."

"Resigns? But I've never heard that..."

"How could he stay on Ella? After the things he's done, he'll be lucky to avoid the scandal."

"What things?" She asked in disbelief. Chuckling, he sat beside her as she cringed.

"Why, he authorized the transport of African slaves without any way to house them...think of the diseases they will spread..." He said carelessly. Suspicion clouded her mind.

"Governor Swann would never...you're a liar..." She said, her voice laced with venom.

"Oh don't flatter me...I simply cannot allow the scandal to engulf Port Royal...you understand..."

With another chuckle, she felt his arm come around her and she closed her eyes as the familiar sense of discomfort washed over her.

"You're a very beautiful girl Ella, any man in Port Royal would kill to have you as their wife, what with the lack of women and all...which is why I must have you...don't you see? I am Cutler Beckett, and I always have the best of everything." She tried to move away but there was no more room to go.

"You talk as though I am some prized horse." She said with disdain. He nodded.

"Very similar...of course, you will also be an excellent mother to my sons. Maybe if you're lucky, I will let you raise them in England and send them when they are of age."

He suddenly was so close his breath was on her ear.

"But then again no...I must have my wife close so as not to create suspicion. And you will play the part. You will look as though you are the happiest woman on this island because if you don't, there will be hell to pay, not only for you and your precious Jack, but for your brother as well. He isn't sure yet, but your sister-in-law is likely in a delicate condition and I would hate for her to miscarry and shame your family..." He said.

"You wouldn't, you...couldn't!" She said shaking her head.

"Oh, I could and I would...but you can prevent all that by being a good girl." He stopped for a moment to smile.

"You could even start tonight..." He said, touching her shoulder with his finger tips. She shriveled away from him and closed her eyes, praying. Voices in her mind screaming at her. Memories of that night with Samuel when her father had come in on them.

"No..." She whispered aloud. Beckett raised an eyebrow.

"What did you say?" He asked.

"Not tonight...I said I would marry you and I will...and that includes the rules that apply to marriage. I will not spread my legs for you tonight and if I had it my way, I never would." She was silenced by the crack of his hand across her face. As he began to come toward her again, the door opened and James stood there. In horror, Ella hid her face as best she could and ran past her brother and out of the man's chambers.

"I thought I heard fighting in here..." He said coldly, glaring at the man he now hated. Beckett rolled his eyes.

"None of this is any of your affair Admiral...good night."

"No. Not good night...I'll have you know anything having to do with Eleanore is my affair until she has married you...which I wouldn't have her do but she insists on it." Beckett rolled his eyes, bored.

"Admiral, don't you know that your audacity is grounds for dismissal from the Navy and your position again."

"Yes, _Lord _Beckett I do...but you won't dismiss me..." He said and Cutler looked at him.

"Oh wouldn't I?" He asked and James nodded.

"That's right...because I quit...I'd rather work for Hades himself than for you. Good night sir." With that, James walked out in search of his sister and left Lord Beckett to his brandy.


	14. Aphrodite

Eleanore stared miserably at her reflection two days after returning to Port Royal and the day after the Governor's resignation. This was her final fitting for her wedding gown, which was probably the most beautiful piece of clothing she had ever worn. Wasted.

"It does look beautiful Miss Norrington." The seamstress said proudly, admiring her work. Ella forced herself to smile politely. Charlotte entered the room, followed by a maid who was bringing in their afternoon tea and sandwiches. As two maids help Ella change back into her day dress, Charlotte searched her sister-in-law's face for any insight into her thoughts. Ella had not spoken a word since the night in Beckett's chambers on the ship and did not plan to until she recited wedding vows that meant nothing to her.

Charlotte so wanted to hear of Ella's pirate adventures, but James had warned her that Ella was heartsick and would likely not speak to her. It was hard enough for him to listen to the sound of her soft weeping each night. Her composure was admirable though. She never allowed herself to lose face in front of people. Not even a maid. The maids put away the dress for the following day and the seamstress said her goodbye, wishing Ella luck in her marriage. Ella simply nodded and only when they were gone, did she turn to the wall for a moment. It was quite clear to Charlotte that she was gathering her composure.

"Ella dear, do come have tea...I have so much to tell you." Charlotte said, waving the remaining maid out of the room. Obediently, Ella sat taking the tea that Charlotte offered. Her eyes were lit with question, but she remained silent.

"Oh Ella," Charlotte pleaded. "Please do talk to me. I feel so utterly alone. Jimmy has been cross since giving up his position as Admiral...and I just can't bring myself to tell him that now when we're without an income, I'm giving him another burden." Ella swallowed, knowing what Charlotte would say next. "I'm...I'm...having a baby!" Charlotte cried, bursting into tears.

"He has an inheritance you know." Ella's slow lifeless voice came finally as she tenderly rubbed the girl's back. "If my father did nothing else right, he did give us that protection.You will lack for nothing...it is no burden." Charlotte looked gratefully up at Ella, hope forming in her eyes.

"Oh Ella...there is no light in your eyes." She said sadly, taking Eleanore's hand. Ella's expression do not change.

"Why should there be? Beckett has ruined so much that is dear to me...James, Port Royal...But, by marrying him, he can't ruin everything." She said softly.

"But...to sacrifice yourself like some lamb? It's preposterous." Charlotte said in horror. Ella looked at her hands.

"Charlotte, I've always done what I was told...I always assumed I would grow up and marry a man I did not love, of course, but at least that I could stand and we would have children and that would be that...you see, before I moved here, I stopped believing in love. When I was seventeen, I was engaged to be married and I loved him. He was beautiful...but he wanted me to give myself to him first and when I wouldn't, he moved on with a girl. And I moved on alone."

Charlotte frowned, setting her tea aside.

"He sounds to me like a perfect jackass." She said with disdain. Ella smiled sadly.

"He was a young man...I'm sure he's grown up now..." She said, remembering him for once without hurting. She went on, "Then, I came here to your wedding and met Captain Jack Sparrow. I don't know if Jimmy told you, but he kissed me on the beach that night. Charlotte's gasp told her that he hadn't. "It was the first time I felt...things...again...but he left and I nearly forgot him...and then Lord Beckett was so decent to me and I decided it was time to carry out my plan to marry and have children. Even though I didn't feel for him that way."

Recognition came into Charlotte's eyes and she nodded.

"You mean...after Captain Jack Sparrow kidnaped you...you...fell in love with him?" Charlotte nodded grimly, hurting.

"I didn't want to. He's filthy, rotten scoundrel, who thinks of nothing but himself. Not to mention he's quite a..."

"Rake?" Charlotte offered. Ella let out a slight laugh.

"I was going to say drunk, but yes there is that too! His desire to bed every woman in the Caribbean can't be a far off goal now...don't you see Charlotte? He is all wrong for me."

Charlotte grinned.

"Yet, he is all right for you...the light has come into your eyes just speaking of him." Ella raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh Charlotte, don't talk like that...you sound like one of those horrid cliché romance novels..."

"Which I recall, you read..." Charlotte teased, making Ella's cheeks turn a brilliant shade of pink.

"I wish it were like one of those..." Ella sighed, "They all have happy endings." Charlotte took her hands.

"You can too Ella! Don't do this...do you think Jack Sparrow can't get himself out of predicaments? From what James has told me, he's managed to escape death numerous times."

"It's not just Jack..." Ella admitted. "He promised to ruin you as well if I did not comply." The color drained from Charlotte's face.

"I...see..." She said worried. "How?" Ella could not bring herself to tell Charlotte that Beckett had threatened to kill their baby and possibly James.

"It isn't important...it's not going to happen."

"I just wish there was some way for you to...be happy..." Ella, trying to make the best out of the situation to keep Charlotte calm, patted the girl's flat abdomen and said.

"My children will make me happy." Luckily, she turned away at that moment, for her eyes had welled up. The thought of bearing Beckett's children was hideous to her and it was then that Eleanore Norrington strongly considered suicide.

* * *

"Tia Dalma...you bloody well better answer this door because I haven't the time!" Jack Sparrow banged his fist on the nymph's door for what seemed like hours, but was in reality only moments. The door slowly opened and found her sitting at her table grinning.

"I been expectin' you Jack..." She crooked her finger at the three of them. A look of surprise crossed her face. "Why Jack...are ye clean?" He crossed his arms over his chest. Indeed the Captain did have on a clean white shirt and pants as well as a new pair of boots.

"Not...entirely. I needed to see you."

"Well, 'ere I am." She said, motioning Elizabeth and Will to sit.

He tossed the compass onto the table.

"I need to see Aphrodite." He explained. "My time is almost up and I don't know if I can fix it before then. I am going to bargain her for time." Tia Dalma's face was full with warning.

"I don' tink..."

"It's the only way." He pled. She nodded and rose from her seat to a heart shaped satin jewel box. Carefully, she opened it and dropped a bit of her special dust into it, closing it and setting it back in it's place.

"Now what?" Elizabeth asked, looking from her to Jack. Tia Dalma sat again.

"We wait." She said. The room fell silent for less than a minute before a small pink light appeared in the light of the sun. Within moments, the light transformed into one of the most beautiful beings any of them had ever laid eyes on. Jack noted that she looked a bit like Eleanore with dark hair and full lips.

"Calypso..." She said affectionately, holding her hand out. "What is the trouble...?" Tia Dalma motioned to Jack.

Jack presented the compass.

"This trinket..." He said and Aphrodite's beautiful face broke into a smile.

"My compass...it was given to you?" She asked, taking it into her hands.

"Yes," He replied, "And it seems it's put some kind of love curse on me? I have to fall in love...or serve Hades...you should really think these things through love..." Aphrodite inspected it.

"It seems you have met the girl..." Her face melted into a mask of pleasure. "Ah! And she has confessed her love for you!" Jack's eyes widened.

"She has? Where did you get that?" He asked, looking down at the compass, confused.

"See how it ticks back and forth...one party has confessed..." She looked up at him. "Now it is up to the other party to complete the spell."

"It's more like a bloody curse..." Jack muttered under his breath. Aphrodite gave him a look of irritation.

"Tell me something Jack...were you happier before or after you met this lady?" The look in his eyes answered for him. She smiled serenely. "Then you're welcome...and I suggest you go save her before she marries Lord Beckett and damns you to Hades." She disappeared in a wave of pink light and Jack turned to the others. His eyes filled with renewed hope.

"Alright...we have things to do." He pulled a knife from his pocket. "First Elizabeth, you are going to cut my hair..." She grunted in sarcasm, making him smile in satisfaction. "William, can you go tell the others that we will be stopping in Tortuga for a new suit, two horses and some bloody rum. I've been sober far too long!" He turned to Tia Dalma and nodded. "Thank you..."

Tia Dalma was smiling, but still serious.

"But Jack...are you ready to do dis? To commit? Ella need a man who can give 'er a 'ouse and bebies...she es good." Jack rubbed his temples.

"Honestly? I haven't the faintest idea what I am going to do...maybe I will know when I see her. One thing is certain...Hades or not, she can't marry Beckett!" Tia Dalma nodded.

"Den I 'ave one more question." She said.

"Which is?"

"Do ye love 'er?" He didn't answer, but it didn't matter. Deep down, she already knew the answer.

* * *

James Norrington furiously sat in his study drinking brandy and reading Eleanore's letters from over the years. One such had him in utter rage.

_Dearest Jimmy, May 3, 1702 _

_I have some news, although I am afraid it is not good news. Samuel and I will no longer be getting married. He wanted something I wasn't ready to give him and Father caught us in a compromising situation. It was of course, deemed my fault, but what isn't with Father? I am such a fool...and I have shamed our family. Father beat me for it...seventeen lashings. I long to be where you are in the warm, beautiful air of the Caribbean. _

_All my love, _

_Ella _

_P.S. How are things going with Elizabeth? Send her my love._

He folded the paper and placed it back in his desk drawer, taking a long drink of brandy. His father had beaten his sister and there was nothing he could do about it. If he had never joined the bloody Navy, he would have been there to protect her. Seventeen lashings. The mere thought of his father whipping small Ella was terrible. With a growl, he rose from his desk and stormed out of the study.

He knocked on Ella's door, but heard giggling behind him. He turned to see the housekeeper holding Ella up by the arm. Ella had half a drunken smile on her face and in her right hand she clutched a bottle of what appeared to be rum.

"They were right...this is effective!" She slurred as the housekeeper tossed her onto her brother.

"She's all yours..." The stout woman said, turning down the stair. James lifted his sister and took her into her room, gently removing the rum from her hand.

"Ella...why are you drinking...?" He asked, and she stopped smiling. "Maybe for the same reason you were...to numb the pain." He shook his head, sitting beside her.

"Alcohol does not take the pain away it just prolongs it." He put his arm around her and noticed her wince.

"Does it still hurt?" He asked and her horrified eyes looked up at his.

"N-no." She said cautiously.

"Can I see?" He asked and slowly, she nodded, sliding her nightgown just past her shoulders so he could see the tops of pale pink scars.

"God in Heaven Eleanore...why didn't you tell me they were this bad? It looks like he used a horse whip!" He said furiously. She shook her head.

"It was a very heavy switch...and they bled for days...weeks..." She said, tears beginning to fall. He took her hand, putting her nightgown back on her shoulders.

"Eleanore...I will beg you again...do not marry Beckett...he'll ruin you." His tone was desperate, but she sighed.

"I can't let him ravage everyone anymore...and maybe if I marry him, just maybe...I can do something about all of this." James sighed heavily.

"This isn't your fight...it's Sparrow's...and mine." She turned to look at him.

"Jimmy...you cannot risk anything. Charlotte hasn't told you yet but she is with child." His eyes were not surprised.

"I had thought as much." He replied and his blank expression did not fool her. She knew he was fighting his inner demons and had his doubts about fathering a child when he had never had a real father.

"You will be wonderful Jim." She smiled, still a bit drunkenly. He kissed her goodnight and shut the door behind him. As he walked toward his bedroom, an idea came to him and he ran toward the servants' quarter to wake his messenger.


	15. Seeing the Future

Eleanore Norrington was used to hearing a slight gasp at the sight of her back when someone was helping her to dress. She had come to accept the fact that she would never be perfect, but it had not occurred to her until the next morning, the day she was to be married, that Beckett did not know of her marred flesh. It was hardly as hideous as it had been the first two years, but the skin was raised and soft in more areas than not. No one but she and James, excluding the servants who had dressed her, knew of those scars.

After her beating, she had been bedridden with infection from the wounds, which oozed horribly and left her in agony. Fever had ravaged her already small body and she lost much of her healthy weight. Finally, the infection hd slowly left her frail body and three months after her lashings, she was able to stand with assistance from the housekeeper, who had once been her nanny. That day, she had made a vow to herself that no one would ever hurt her that way again. She never again dared to argue with her father, and even the sight of a switch sent her into a panicked fit of gasping for breath. Night after night she had to have the bandages removed and replaced along with a healing salve that burned. Sometimes, she wished that the infection had killed her, especially after the rumors began to spread.

Some thought she had disappeared because she had been pregnant and the General had forced her to get rid of the problem by aborting the child. Others thought she had been sent to a convent to live in France. So naturally, when she had reappeared in society thin and pale, the shock was evident. She always was sure to cover her shoulders and back, never daring to wear a gown that was off the shoulder. It did not surprise her that no young men dared to approach her for courtship what with her reputation and her aloof exterior.

It had been an immense relief when her father had finally passed on. That was the day that her constant fear began to fade and when her housekeeper suggested she move to the Caribbean with James, she found reason to hope. It had felt like a blessing when Lord Beckett had asked for her hand, though he indeed knew about the scandal surrounding her in London. Ultimately, it was why she had accepted his proposal.

As she lay in bed that morning before sunrise, she pretended to be asleep as the maids gossiped, readying the room for when she awoke. One of the voices, she recognized as a maid named Clara and the other, Michelle. A girl who made no secret of the rich men she'd bedded.

"It doesn't seem that the lady is particularly happy with her engagement." Michelle said as Clara laughed bitterly.

"These damned women don't know how good they have it. I'd give my right leg for a man like Lord Beckett." Michelle sighed.

"He is rather intoxicating..." Ella heard her say. Clara snorted.

"Just because you spent a night with him after meeting him in the market, doesn't mean anything." She warned. Michelle became defensive.

"I never said it did. But _she_ won't appreciate him! I sure would..." Clara stopped what she was doing to look at the girl.

"Look Michelle, no matter what you think, one night with a man of nobility means nothing. You have no claim on him and you know as well as I do that he is with a new woman every night. The truth is, you can spread your legs for a man as many times as you or he would like, but at the end of the day, it's still his wife that gets him. It's just the way of the world."

It became clear to Ella, even with her eyes closed that Michelle was madly jealous.

"Well..." Her voice was haughty. "Maybe he'll change his mind about her when he sees her scars." Ella's eyes shot open and she sat up, glaring at the redhead.

"M-Miss..." Clara stuttered, shooting Michelle a look of death. Ella was furious, but managed to keep her cool.

"Is there something you need Miss Norrington?" Michelle asked nervously. Ella nodded.

"Yes, could you tell Mrs. Norrington that I am awake and would like to take morning tea with her? Thank you Melinda..." She said purposely. The girl's face darkened.

"It's Michelle..." She replied lamely. Ella smiled waving her off.

"Of _course _it is..." She smiled coldly until the maid left.

Clara quickly reached for Ella's robe and slippers, helping her into them. Horror filled Ella as she realized the dismissive way she had treated her maid. Was the bitterness of her life going to turn her into a cold woman? A vision of her future came to her mind.

_She lived on a large estate in London. Three maids flitted about the room worriedly. In a nearby mirror, she caught her reflection. The woman staring back at her was a stranger. Her hair, once a vibrant and lush mahogany, seemed thin and was pulled back into a harsh bun, making her face seem cold and her features unattractive. She wore a disdainful look and small lines surrounded her mouth and eyes, no doubt from years of unhappiness. On her wedding finger was a large diamond ring, which she would have once deemed too gawdy. _

_As one maid handed her tea, Lady Eleanore Beckett pulled a silver flask from the drawer of the table and poured some of its contents into her drink. _

_"My lady, you know the doctor advised you not to drink." The maid said. Eleanore turned her stare coldly on the girl. _

_"Really Justine...did I ask for your opinion on how I should live my life?" Her voice was sharp and biting. The girl shook her head frantically searching for an apology to give. _

_"I...no...I was just..." _

_"You were just leaving." Eleanore replied. "Send in my son." The maid bowed slightly before rushing from the room. _

_Moments later, the door to the parlor opened and a young boy of eight entered, bowing his head to her. _

_"Mother." He said softly, kissing her cheek. He sat properly in an armchair beside her. She closed her eyes and sucked in a breath to gain courage. _

_"Daniel...your father has requested that I send you away to school now." The boy's face fell. _

_"But, why...?" He asked, heartbroken. She remained focused, fighting emotion for it hurt her heart to see him cry. _

_"He has always planned for you to go...and you know as well as I that when you are of age, you will join him in Port Royal." Daniel's face filled with anger. _

_"Why? He doesn't care for me. He hasn't seen me since I was five and Gregory was two...and he's never even met Corrine!" Eleanore looked at the window thinking of the litle girl who was nearly two now, she shut her eyes miserably. _

_"Oh, I am sorry I upset you Mother." Daniel said, looking into his hands. _

_Eleanore shook her head, regaining her composure. _

_"No...I'm fine Daniel. Go see to your brother and sister." She said as he kissed her cheek and left the room. Going to the window, she stared longingly at the sea she could barely see. A voice startled her. _

_"Ella?" No one had called her Ella in over ten years..._

"Ella?" Charlotte asked again. Ella seemed to jolt out of a nightmare, she'd been having. Relief flooded her eyes.

"Oh Charlotte..." She said, smiling but Charlotte saw the terror behind the light blue of her eyes which made Charlotte heartsick for her.

"How are you?" She asked the bride to be.

"Fine." Ella answered, perhaps too quickly."Where is James?" She asked, changing the subject. Charlotte set her tea down.

"I'm...not sure. He left hours ago and didn't tell anyone where he going..." Concern filled Ella's face

"I can't imagine he's up to any good..." She said lightly, but her mind was swirling.

* * *

As Jack stepped off of the _H.M.S. Liberty_, the sun was beginning to rise. He rerad the message that had been given to him as he had docked with William in Port Royal only hours before. They had spent the remaining time on the H.M.S. Liberty and Jack had sent Mr. Gibbs away with the _Pearl_ so it would not be discovered. _Not that anyone would recognize me..._ He thought with a smirk. Will had sent Elizabeth to her father's as she was not feeling well. Nausea still claimed her all hours of the day and she was too tired, though she was loathe to admit it.

Will blinked in the light of the rising sun. The soft sound of footsteps caught their attention and Will reached for his sword, poised to attack as Jack fingered the pistol his belt. He was bloody sober and hating it. His head throbbed, begging him for rum. As the figure came close, a smile emerged on the Captain's face.

"Bugger..." He said, satisfied with the surprised look on the former Admiral's face.

"Well Sparrow..." He said with a grin, "You almost look like a decent man." Jack gave him a crooked smile.

"And you almost look like a pirate." He replied dryly, noting Norrington's disheveled appearance. Norrington held out his hand and they shook hands as if they'd been friends all their lives.

"I never thought I'd say this mate, but it's bloody good to see you."


	16. On the Way to the Wedding

"You look beautiful Miss Norrington." Clara said as she finished buttoning the last tiny silk button on Ella's wedding dress. Her lip quivered, threatening to release the tears that lie waiting in her eyes. She had seven bridesmaids and one maid of honor. All of which had been chosen for her by Lord Beckett. She knew no one and felt horribly alone. The dress was white…or lacking color as Ella thought to herself. Just like her life with Cutler Beckett would lack color. The bridesmaids wore maize, a color which she despised. Not even Charlotte could get through the sea of girls to comfort her and Ella desperately wished Elizabeth were here. Liz was strong. But Ella knew where Liz was. With her husband and the man Ella had sacrificed herself for. _I would have rather had Beckett shoot me dead…_She thought disdainfully.

The girls chattered on about silly things like clothes and engagements while she stood silently staring into her bouquet. It was all women had to talk about. They were not permitted to talk about politics or anything important. Ella doubted that many of these ladies could even understand English much less discuss something relevant. She watched them interact with each other and giggle, fixing each other's dresses and hair. How she longed for that sort of carefree world, where the most important thing was fashion and being demure. She had not been able to enjoy that sort of world since before Samuel had asked for her hand, and tonight, she would lose her freedom as well. She dreaded tonight, for tonight was when she would have to lie before Cutler Beckett and let him do with her what he would to get a son.

Ella, of course, did not know the details of the wedding night and no one would fill her in as it was indecent to discuss what went on in a couple's marriage bed. She was distracted from her disturbing thoughts by Clara who was trying to get her attention.

"Miss Norrington, Mrs. Turner is here to see you." She said softly. Ella nodded for her to be let in and told Clara she would meet her in the library. To her amazement, not one girl even seemed to notice Ella slip out of the room in her huge wedding gown as they continued to chatter.

Elizabeth was waiting for her, wearing quite a lovely outfit with her hair pinned up neatly and her hands covered by gloves.

"Ella." She said softly, holding her hands out to the bride. Ella came to her and took her hands gently.

"Liz…what are you doing here?" She asked, wondering if anyone else had come with her. She'd prayed into the morning for someone to rescue her. Elizabeth smiled.

"Will sent me home for rest, I think he's up to something. I am coming to your wedding today though. My father has resigned as governor and is thinking of moving back to England." Ella darkened.

"Liz…your father didn't resign. He was blackmailed by the man I am going to marry in just under two hours." Elizabeth sighed, but nodded.

"I had thought so…Beckett is a sorry son of a…" She stopped herself regaining ladylike composure. "I did not get sick today." She said, changing the subject. Ella tried to smile.

"That's wonderful…I cannot wait to meet your child. You must come visit sometimes." She said sadly. Elizabeth nodded, fighting tears.

"Ellie…" She said using the childhood pet name, "Don't do this…you don't have to…" Ella shook her head, squeezing her friend's hand.

"I must…I gave my word." She said. Both of them were quiet, for Elizabeth knew Ella was a Lady and ladies never went back on their word. She remembered the days she had valued honor. Those days were gone when she'd chained Jack Sparrow to his own ship and allowed him to be eaten. In the end though, they had saved Jack and he had gotten a second chance at life. Did not Ella deserve that same chance? The girls held each other for a long while and Elizabeth wondered if all was going according to plan.

* * *

"Everything is set for tonight Lord Beckett." A guard said as Beckett admired his reflection in the mirror.

"What about the _Black Pearl?_" He asked. The man nodded.

"We are still trying to locate it sir." He said, his head bowed. Beckett nodded.

"Perfect. Now, the orders are clear, correct? As soon as you see Sparrow. Shoot him dead where he stands." The guard became clearly confused.

"But sir…I thought you gave Miss Norrington your word…?" Beckett's hand went up to silence him.

"I did what I had to do for her to marry me. Now Sparrow must get his due. I have been waiting too long to see him dead and I want him brought to me as soon as the job is done. Understand Officer?" Flustered, the man nodded and left the room.

Beckett turned to his two faithful Lieutenants.

"The plans are laid out gentlemen…today Eleanore will become my wife and hopefully sooner rather than later she will become pregnant, whereupon she will be sent straight to my home in England. I shall visit her once a year, especially if our first attempt is not successful and we have, God forbid, a girl first." The men nodded in agreement for the thought of the eldest child being a girl was preposterous. They all chuckled uncertainly for it was of course, half possible.

Beckett turned to survey the room he and his wife would spend their first night together in and a sly smile came to his face at the thought of Ella's virginal body lying on the bed for him. It was a simple room with a large bed, a changing screen and a vanity. Perhaps even, after tonight, she would be more willing to be his wife. He could even come to be fond of her, though he knew he would have mistresses conveniently after she had gone off to England to raise his sons. Once they were of age, they would be sent back to Port Royal to live. Beckett couldn't be bothered with raising children. It was a woman's job, and Eleanore would serve well.

* * *

"Father!" Elizabeth called, bursting into her father's home with determination.

"Elizabeth? Is something wrong?" Her father called tiredly from his library. She opened the door and crossed her arms.

"Get up and get ready...we're going to Lord Beckett's wedding to get your position as Governor back." She said, pulling at him. He resisted.

"Elizabeth! Are you insane? Beckett is too powerful." He said, standing. She grinned.

"Yes Father, but I happen to know three men who are going to change all that today." Suspicion crossed his face.

"Elizabeth Anne, what are you up to?"

* * *

"Ella?" Charlotte peered into Ella's quiet room. She was sitting on the edge of her bed praying. "Ella..." She said softly, kneeling before her. Eleanore looked up at her.

"How can I do this?" She asked softly. "How can I marry this...this...monster?" She asked, shuddering at the thought of removing her clothing for him in but a few short hours. She'd seen the way he stared hungrily at her bosom and it made her feel small and vulnerable. Then again, Jack had never pretended to be honorable, but it didn't make her feel ashamed when he looked at her. He looked at her with more than carnal hunger. There was a certain affection in the way he treated people, pirate or not.

Oh how she wished she could see him one last time before throwing her life away. _If I could have one night with the Captain, I would be able to make it through this life. _But she knew one night with Captain Jack would never be enough for her. In the short time she had spent with him, she had fallen so hard and so fast for him, it frightened her. She hadn't been sure until just before she'd left him, but now she was almost positive that he felt something for her too.

Charlotte helped her to her feet and adjusted her veil, pulling it over her face.

"The carriage is here to take us to the church. The bridesmaids have already gone ahead." Ella nodded silently, taking her hand and clutching the bouquet in the other. They walked out together, the sun nearly blinding Ella as she stepped outside. The carriage was decorated and waiting for her and to her surprise, James was standing outside waiting for her already dressed and ready. He'd trimmed his beard and now looked distinguished and handsome.

"You're coming?" She asked, surprised. He took her arm, helping her into the carriage.

"As if I would make my little sister walk herself down the aisle." He said and she would have believed him, but there was a glint in his eyes that she had only seen when he had been up to mischief. Charlotte sat beside Ella, the two of them clinging to one another for support. James shook his head, unable to believe his sister would put herself through this mess after all she had overcome.

"Jimmy, where were you this morning?" She asked suspiciously and he knew he had to come up with a good lie.

"I...was meeting with a few of my friends from the military to discuss Lord Beckett." He fibbed, knowing damn well that she knew he was full of it. She smiled unevenly though at him, either not having the strength to question further, or just dropping the subject since she knew she would be getting nowhere.

The church was full to the brim with the upper crust of Port Royal in attendance. As James helped Ella out of the carriage in her huge wedding gown, through the afternoon sun, she thought she saw two gentlemen waiting in the shadows. Her eyebrow raised as she suspected Beckett had guards everywhere to ensure she could not leave this church until his ring was on her finger and his name was hers. Her bridesmaids attended to her, pulling her train straight and fixing her veil minutes before the ceremony was going to start. At one point she was so miserable she thought she heard the Captain's voice whispering her name. Beckoning her...but when she turned there was no one.

The opening chords of the ceremony began as the bridesmaids scrambled to get into their line.

"Are you ready?" James asked, a small smirk on his face. She nodded with a sigh and noticed that he was all too happy about walking her down the aisle to her fate. For a moment she wondered if he was drunk, but he did not smell of anything but his aftershave. As the double doors to the church opened to reveal her, she sucked in a deep breath and started toward the altar, clinging to the arm of the only family member she had left.


	17. John Sparrow

The organ music echoed around Eleanore and James could feel her fingers tighten on his arm. One by one, each bridesmaid made her way down the aisle on the arm of an usher. Expectantly, guests stood and waited for the bride to begin on her way down the aisle. An enormous knot formed in the pit of her stomach. Ella eyed her brother. Something was strange with him. He was utterly too calm and she knew that he was not a particularly cool headed person in a bad situation. She felt the heat of people's stares and the jealousy coming from numerous women that she was sure Beckett had been with. Elizabeth caught her eye and even she, who smiled easily at Ella, seemed to be hiding something. A casual hand was laid over her still flat stomach as she patted her father's shoulder. The former governor looked extremely uncomfortable as he wore no wig or uniform.

"Jimmy." Ella whispered beneath her veil. She heard him mutter in reply.

"Mmm?" Her eyes darted around the room nervously.

"Is something going on?" She asked and he chuckled.

"Well, we are in the middle of your wedding dear sister." He reminded her lightly. She swallowed heavily.

"Really?" She asked, her voice light with sarcasm, "I had not realized." Ella was avoiding the stare of Cutler Beckett like the plague as she saw the hunger behind his eyes. Cold fear came over her as she realized she was to be a pawn of his perverse pleasures tonight. She almost laughed for he wouldn't get the image of virginal perfection he'd been imagining, but a scarred one.

As they reached the altar, James turned toward her and lifted her veil.

"There is still a way for you to get out of this..." He said and she looked down into her flowers.

"I gave my word." She said stupidly. The truth was, she was more worried that Beckett would take his anger over her backing out on Jack, or God forbid, Elizabeth and William.

"Ellie..." James said in disbelief.

"_Mr. _Norrington...are you going to hand over my bride or not?" Beckett's voice intervened. James glared at the man as a few snickers were heard throughout the audience. Ella silently thanked God that she had gloves on as he took her hands.

James sat beside Charlotte in the front pew as the priest began his speech. Ella wasn't even listening, but she did notice her brother kept squirming in his seat.

"Eleanore?" The priest's voice invaded her thoughts.

"What?" She asked, confused. A small rumble of laughter floated through the people.

"Place the ring on Lord Beckett's finger." He said firmly. Beckett looked sternly at her.

"Eleanore, you are embarrassing me." He whispered. She slipped the ring on his finger and repeated her vows with no emotion in her voice.

"If anyone should object to this union, speak now or forever hold your peace." A moment passed and Ella began to pray silently. _Please...somebody save me...I don't want this..._Panic began to shoot through her but she remained facing the priest. As the priest opened his mouth to finish the ceremony, a very proper and refined male voice came from the back.

"Actually, I have a slight problem with it." Ella's eyes squeezed shut as Beckett's grip on her hand tightened.

"If you move, you will regret it."

Wild hope began to pulse through her as she moved her eyes as far to the left as she could. All she could see was the dark blue of a coat. The people had changed from murmurs to full out chatter.

"Sorry mate, but I believe that's my woman you've got there..." The voice said. Ella's head picked up. Beckett let go of her hand, but she could not bring herself to turn and look for fear it was all in her mind. Beckett laughed, sending a chill down her spine.

"Do you hear ladies and gentlemen? This man thinks he has a right to my own fiancée!"

To Ella's surprise no one laughed at his remark, in fact, the room had hushed.

"Eleanore...please...just turn around and look at me." The man pleaded. She shook her head, afraid of what could happen if she did. "Ella?" Beckett laughed loudly.

"Don't you see, you fool? She doesn't love you! Who could?" A click was heard and then Jimmy's voice.

"It's all right Ella...he won't do anything...turn around please..." Still, she could not bring herself to look. A hand touched her shoulder.

"I know my actions of recent were less than honorable...I should have fought for you from the start. Instead, I watched you leave and didn't do a thing to stop it." A sigh. "Before I met you, it was always about me...I didn't care about other people...you made me see just how wonderful it is to have friend whom you cherish. God knows I do not deserve your love or even your respect...but people change Eleanore...and I am willing to change...I'll give it all up...I'll build you a house with gardens and a sunroom and nurseries and all of that domestic type nonsense." She could not suppress a laugh as tears began to fall from her eyes and onto her skirt. "The truth is, I...I..." He stopped, her head lifted hopefully.

"Yes?" She whispered, praying with all of her heart that he was going to say it.

"I...I love you. I'm sure of it...ever since you left I've felt like someone reached inside me chest and ripped out my heart...my soul even feels empty."

"This is absurd." Beckett said, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up you..." James bit out, shoving the gun further into Beckett's cheek.

"Thanks mate..." The refined male voice replied to the former Admiral. James only nodded, keeping the gun pointed. Will was poised, hand on sword, ready to attack if necessary. "So...I was sort of, you know, wondering...if you'd reconsider this whole marriage to Mr. Beckett."

"That's _Lord _Beckett to you, Sparrow. Do not forget your place, I did after all, put you in it."

"Funny you should mention Cutler...I am sure most of these people do not remember me as I look right now...perhaps if I had come as I looked only yesterday...you see, I am Captain John Sparrow of the Queen's Navy. At least, I was until this man branded me a pirate for standing up for what I believed in. You see, good people of Port Royal, I refused to transport a certain cargo. Slaves, if you will. You all may not believe it, but I did indeed have some thread of moral fiber back then. I now go by a different name. Ah yes, now I see the recognition. _Jack._ It suits me better don't you think..."

"I fail to see how this is relevant to my wedding." Beckett replied dryly. Ella slanted a glance at her almost husband.

"Yes, well then...the truth is...it is not you she is supposed to be with. It is me." Jack replied easily.

Cutler let out a low chuckle as the crowd began to raise their voices.

"You honestly think that Eleanore would choose you after the crimes you have committed. She is a decent woman...an image of perfection...do you think she would even look your way...?" Ella sighed, hearing Beckett make decisions for her when he hardly even knew anything about her.

"Yes." She whispered and Beckett cleared his throat.

"Excuse me?" He asked, irritated. She looked at him.

"I said yes...you know...a positive response...the opposite to no?" She said her voice dripping with anger.

"That's right love, get angry." Jack's voice came from behind her.

"I...I'm sorry but I will not be marrying you today. In fact," She said, pulling the ring off of her finger, "I would not marry you if you were the last man on earth. You've threatened my family, my friends...you've blackmailed our own governor to gain his position...honestly...your crimes are the unforgivable ones..." She sighed raggedly and stood straighter.

"Please Ella, let me look at you...look at me." Slowly, still gripping the wedding ring in her palm, she turned to face the Captain and nearly dropped dead in shock at the sight of him.

He was clean, sober and handsome. His black hair had been cut, washed, brushed and tied back neatly, his face was clean as an angels, his brown eyes bright and young. His hands were clean as were his nails. He wore a new suit and coat. No rings graced his usually jeweled hands and there was not a smudge on him. But the strangest thing was his beard had been trimmed and the full pouting of his lips were visible. He looked positively boyish, yet grown at the same time and he was beautiful. Not that Ella would have changed him from the way he was, but she had to admit, women would swoon over his obvious beauty.

"I don't think all of the riches buried in this world would ever compare to your beauty right now." He said, kneeling at her feet.

"Jack, I..." He stopped her, producing at small diamond ring, knowing full well she hated gawdy huge gems. James had told him so that morning after all. "Oh." She said quietly, allowing him to slip it on.

"Would you take me up on my offer? Would you consider spending all your days with me? I know I can be a loathsome creature sometimes...I don't deny it, but I am relearning how to be human again. Would you marry someone like me? A reformed pirate?" She sniffed, still crying, but managed to laugh.

"On one condition." She said, kneeling so that they were eye level.

"Anything." He replied. She took both of his hands.

"I don't want you to change Jack Sparrow...I loved you as you were...I would never ask you to give up your ship and your love of the sea...I only ask you to include me in it. I would love that house too...a home base...as I will require at least two children to satisfy me. So I suppose my answer to your question is yes." As she leaned in to kiss him finally, Beckett pulled her up by the arm, causing her to cry out.

"No! This is ridiculous, she is my wife! She said the vows and she gave her word. She is coming home with me!" He cried, turning his anger to Jack. "Sparrow, if it is the last thing I do, I will see you hang!"

"The only place you are going Lord Beckett, is to jail!" A female said. All heads turned to see Elizabeth Swann standing on the pew, her arms folded.

"On what charges?" Beckett chuckled. Elizabeth grinned.

"Treason." As his attention was averted, Ella broke free of his grip and took Jack's extended hand, allowing him to lead her out of the church as the crowd closed in on Beckett.

Oh my Gosh...you guys...I am sorry, this chapter sucked. At least I think it did...but it will get better. If worse comes to worse, I will redo it later. And I didn't mean to put Jack out of character, but this is who he was before he was a pirate and there is still some shred of him left in Jack. Here is what I picture Jack as now.


	18. The Escape

"You have no proof." Beckett replied smugly, though James was sure there was a hint of panic in his eyes. Elizabeth had stepped down and was pushing her way through the excited crowd. Will put his sword away quickly and left Norrington's side to make sure his wife was able to get through safely.

"Proof?" She repeated angrily, stepping into the man's face. "You forges documents to condemn my father so he would resign and so you could take his place!" One of Beckett's officials turned to the former Governor in shock.

"Is this true, Weatherby?" He asked. The old man sighed.

"Yes, regrettably it is..."

"He's lying of course!" Beckett said, avoiding the stare of the immovable Elizabeth Turner.

"You...you cad!" She cried, pushing at his chest. "Are you so power hungry that you are willing to overstep anyone in your way?"

"Know your place Miss Swann..."

"It's _Mrs. _Turner to you!" Beckett glared at her for a moment before a young lieutenant spoke weakly.

"It's true...he did forge the documents..." All eyes turned to the young man who could have been no older than Elizabeth herself.

"What?" Beckett said in disbelief. The young man was nearly shaking in his boots.

"It's...it's true...I was there...I'll swear to it on my mother's grave..." The crowd lost any control it had managed to keep as they closed in on the fallen Lord Beckett. Elizabeth rushed into Will's arms as James went to his own wife to comfort her.

"Oh Jimmy..." Charlotte murmured, clinging to James's coat.

"It's going to be alright now Charley..." He said, pressing a kiss to her temple. Elizabeth could not suppress a grin as she watched James with his own wife, and she did not stop smiling until someone yelled,

"He's gone!"

* * *

"Do we have a plan?" Ella asked frantically as Jack practically threw her on the horse he had waiting for their escape and mounted to sit behind her as well.

"Not especially, but I am open to any ideas you might have..." He replied with half a grin. The look on her face amused him and he had to chuckle.

"_Yes. _We have a plan, love...don't you trust me?" She let out a small nervous laugh.

"To a point dear Captain." She replied lightly. He laid a hand to his chest and feigned pain.

"I'm hurt..." He said, the smile never leaving his face. She turned toward him, an eyebrow raised.

"You did, after all kidnap me, Captain." He nodded, satisfied with himself.

"So I did..." He agreed.

"Thank you." She said finally. He did not reply to this, but somehow she knew he didn't have to.

"So what _is _our plan?" She asked. Calmly and with a touch of wickedness in his voice, he replied.

"First we go back to the _Pearl,_ second, my father is going to marry I us, and third, I am going to drink my fill of rum and then ravage you." The serene way he'd said those last words sent a shiver of both apprehension and excitement through her but only for a moment as she realized Jack didn't know of her scars and that frightened her most of all.

* * *

"I have a message for Mr. and Mrs. Turner." The butler at the Norringtons' home told Charlotte. Elizabeth's father and James were in a meeting with one of the East India Trading Company's superiors. The search was on for Cutler Beckett, who would no longer be known as _"Lord"_ once word reached the King. In fact, he would most likely be on the first ship home to jail. The butler handed Will the folded not as Elizabeth joined him to read it as well.

_Turners-_

_All went well...made it on the Pearl. _

_-Jack_

They grinned at each other.

* * *

"I never thought I would see the day when ol' Cap'n Jack'd take a wife." Mr. Gibbs mused directly following the hasty wedding ceremony on the ship.

"Neither did I mate." Jack slurred, clicking his bottle of rum with Gibbs's. "Specially not a Norrington." They both watch Ella as she attempted to teach Righetti how to waltz and howled with laughter as the boy stumbled over his own awkward feet. Ella was still wearing the enormous wedding gown which didn't make it any easier. An inconvenience Jack intended to remedy soon.

"So Cap'n, are ye ready ta be a good man again?" Gibbs asked. Jack shot him a long look.

"Not in the least, mate, but it will certainly be quite the adventure to relearn..."

"I should like to see the look on yer face when there is a small tribe of little devils runnin' at yer feet." Jack's father settled himself between his son and Gibbs with a fresh bottle of rum.

"Don't remind me Pa..." Jack said, taking a long drink.

Ella joined them soon after, breathless from laughing so hard.

"Are you ready for bed yet, wife?" Jack asked, reaching for her hand. She took it, but the smile left her face and he could see the fear in her eyes. He stood and walked her away from the crowd a bit.

"There's no need to be frightened love, I won't harm you."

"I...I know..." She replied dumbly. He smiled at her.

"Good. Are you ready then?" She nodded without a word as Jack said with a grin.

"Gents, I bid you good night." Ella closed her eyes and allow Jack to lead her into their chambers.

The click of the door seemed to seal her fate. Would he be repulsed by her? Would he change his mind about her?

"J-Jack, there's something you should know..."

"Hush..." He said, pulling her into his arms and kissing her deeply. She lost herself for a moment, just as she had the first night she'd met him.

"Jack, I..." She said, against his lips. She stopped cold when she felt his hands on the buttons in back of her dress. "Maybe we should wait." She said meekly. He looked at her incredulously.

"Wait? Why?" He asked, cupping her cheek. She sighed, searching for an excuse.

"Because...Because..." He took her face into his hands and kissed her to silence her.

"Ella, if you are going to tell me I need to give up other women, it's already been done. I haven't even thought of another since I met you...I love you." He said, brushing light kisses along her cheekbones and around her lips.

"Jack, that's not it...oh..." She lost her thoughts as his lips touched her neck and she let out a slight gasp.

"Not having second thoughts are you, pet?" He asked, kissing her collar bone.

"N-no..." She managed to say, making him chuckle.

"Good."

He returned his attention to the miserable little satin buttons at the back of her dress. She did, after all, have about a hundred. He heard her take in a long breath as if anticipating something unpleasant. With much expertise, he undid each, surprising her.

"You're good at this." She said. He moved close to her ear and whispered,

"Yes, I've had much practice." Finally, he finished the last one and again, she said in that unsure tone,

"Jack..."

"Don't worry Ella...I love you." It was the first time he'd ever said those words to a woman and meant them. A virgin no less. He'd never bedded a virgin. Something about ruining a woman that way didn't suit him. He also had refused to dally with another man's wife, and now that he had his own, he would never see another woman like this in all his life, and the fact that she was his _and _a virgin scared the wits out of him.

Slowly, he pulled the satin apart and realized she wore no chemise with her corset. It also became apparent as to why she'd begun to protest. Several raised scares angrily adorned the light smooth skin on her back. A small gasp from her made him realize she was crying. He turned her to face him.

"This is why you wanted to wait, isn't it?" He asked seriously, looking her in the eyes. She nodded. "Who _did _this to you...?" He sat her on the edge of the bed and removed her shoes.

"My...father..." She whispered, as the story began to pour from her lips. By the time she had finished her tale, he was lying propped on his elbow. She sighed.

"They're horrid, aren't they?" She whispered. He sat up abruptly.

"Do you want to know what's horrid, Eleanore?" He put his head in his hands and tried to think.

"What's _horrid _is the fact that a man could do _this _to his child! What's _horrid _is that _you _were the victim and he took it out on you! _That _is what is horrid Eleanore..." Sighing, he looked at her tear streaked face. "Did you think I wouldn't want you? Do not be fooled Ella, I am not so shallow. I married you for who you are...not what your body looks like, and I am sure Beckett was doing just the opposite." He bit out. "Though I would almost love to see his suprise when he finally realized, but I would rather kill myself than have anyone but for me and perhaps our children see you in anything but proper attire."

"Children?" She couldn't help repeating, a small smile playing at her lips.

"If you wish we'll have a dozen or more!"

"Or less..." She correctly softly. He grinned wickedly at her and pulled her onto his lap.

"Now...Lady Sparrow...are you going to let me consummate my marriage to you?" She put her arms gratefully around his neck.

"Gladly Captain..." She replied, as he laid her gently down.

Carefully, he pulled off her dress and with nimble fingers, unlaced her corset and removed her petticoats, drawers and stockings, kissing every piece of skin he revealed. When she was finally nude, he pulled back and stared at her slender form. Shyly, her arms moved to cover herself modestly. He stopped her.

"I want you to be comfortable with me...do not hide from me..." The evidence of what the sight and feel of her did to him was evident through his trousers. Quickly he removed his shirt, shoes and his own stockings leaving just his knickers which he unbuttoned and removed with ease.

The look on her face was priceless, a mixture of fear and amazement.

"Is...is it supposed to be that...that..." She stammered innocently.

"That what my sweet?" He asked, choking back a laugh.

"That _big!_" She exclaimed and his laugh came.

"I've never had a complaint, my love..." He said, sitting beside her on the bed. She smacked his chest playfully.

"You are a rake..." She grinned, this time taking the initiative and kissing him again.

"It's quite interesting really..." She said, pulling back, a hint of mischief in her voice.

"What is?" He asked, his lips against her collarbone.

"The...the way it seems to have a mind of its own..." He nearly choked in shock.

"Eleanore!" He cried desperately. She smiled innocently.

"Well it _does _darling..." She teased. "Jack?" She asked, as he ran his lips across one of her breasts. Exasperated, he lifted his eyes to hers.

"What _is _it love?" He asked impatiently. She bit her lip most attractively.

"Might I touch it?"

"_Ella!" _He cried. She licked her lips to wet them.

"Please?" She asked, tilting her head.

The little minx was fast to learn what power she had over him.

"Please _do!_" He gasped, and as her small hand reached out to touch him he knew control was lost. "Ella..."

"It feels like silk..." She said, and he could bear no more. It would be a very fast end if she kept on like this. Swiftly, he moved her onto her back and slid one finger into her. She lost her breath as he readied her to accommodate him. Slowly, he moved over her and positioned himself.

"Now...this may hurt Ella, so you must try to relax..." She nodded, shutting her eyes and bracing herself. An inch at a time, soon he was at the barrier. He waited, watching her a moment.

"Hold onto me...I'm sorry for this..." He said, pushing forward.

She opened her eyes when he'd broken into her and looked up at him. There was pain, but not as badly as she'd expected. He lay still with her for a moment, kissing just her lips and neck to remind her that she was safe.

"Is...is that it?" She asked, confused. He smiled rakishly.

"No my love...we've only just started..."


	19. A Single Shot

**Sorry about the wait...live is hectic. Finals...**

The rise of the sun woke Ella immediately as the red and orange rays gleamed through the cabin window and over her face, the color of the sunrise making her mahogany hair seem a fiery red. She was blissfully draped over Jack, both of them covered from the waist down, her leg thrown over one of his. He was still asleep, part of which may have been caused by the rum he'd had yesterday at their wedding. She could not suppress a smile as she dared to look at him, his dark hair, nearly black, splayed over his pillow, a pink flush staining his cheeks, a small smile on his lips. He moved slightly in his sleep, one of his hands entwined in the thick mass of her hair. She was married. To a pirate. The thought in itself was both thrilling and terrifying all at once.

Studying her wedding band, which was nothing more than a plan gold band with something engraved into it, she had never seen anything as simply lovely as it. Jack's was matching, though a bit thicker. They just looked…right. After their passion had been a bit subdued the night before, they'd talked for what had seemed like hours about everything from childhood to cannibals to dogs. Jack had a natural comedic quality to him and she quite honestly was brought to tears laughing a few times at his stories of first meeting Pintel and Rigetti, about getting in trouble as a child, about anything really. They'd also talked about children, she wanted three or four depending, but definitely more than two. A blush reddened her skin as she realized they could have started that family even now. A thought that made her grin.

With her head still resting on his chest, she felt him take a breath and begin to wake, his arm around her waist tightening, the other arm stretching lazily. She pretended to still be sleeping as she felt him lift his head to look down at her with her hair sprawled everywhere. The hand that was not resting on her waist gently came to tilt her chin up toward his face. His silky lips brushed her forehead and Ella could wait no longer as she opened her eyes and beamed at him, kissing him fully. He laughed in surprise but returned her affection.

"Hello." He said when they had broken apart. She looked away from him shyly.

"Hello…" He grinned, stretching once again.

"How did you sleep, love?" He asked her, realizing her top half was completely uncovered as he grinned wickedly.

"Soundly." She replied, her cheeks reddening at her bareness. He stopped her as she tried to pull the covers over herself.

"I don't think so..." He said, winking at her and quickly changing positions so that she was on her back and he was half over her.

"Jack are we going to..." She began and he chuckled, knowing what she meant.

"Not right now love...are you hungry? I need to give the men orders for today. Why don't you stay in bed and I'll send them in with food for you and join you shortly." She nodded, staring at him with her head tilted as he got up and drew on his knickers.

"What is it?" He asked, a gleam in his eye. She sighed.

"I never thought I would see you look like that with your hair all brushed, clean and free to your shoulders."

He nodded.

"I do clean up nice, don't I?" He asked, giving her another wink as he pulled his shurt on. Soon, he was dressed and had kissed her before leaving the cabin. With a sigh, she pulled on a dressing gown that was lying on the foot of the bed and curled up under the covers again, allowing herself to sink into the softness of the bed and relax her aching muscles. She suddenly wished Elizabeth or Charlotte were here to talk to...to compare stories perhaps? No. Charlotte was married to her brother and if there was one thing Ella would rather not hear, it was details of her brother and his wife's bedroom escapades.

A knock on the cabin door startled her but she managed to call,

"Come in!" It was Mr. Gibbs, followed by crew members carrying trays of food.

"Oh..." She said, eyeing the food as if she'd never eaten before. " Thank you!" She said, waiting for them to leave before jumping out of bed and racing to the tray adorned with cool, mouth watering fruit. Once her hunger was sated, she began to pick things up, eyeing a few old shirts of Jack's hanging around the room. To keep herself busy, she began to mend his clothes. That was how he found her an hour later, curled up beside the fireplace in his dressing gown with her feet tucked underneath her, sewing his shirts like a dutiful wife, her long rusty colored hair spilling over her upper body.

"Not even married a day and you are already taking care of me?" He said, getting her attention. She smiled shyly, holding up the mending.

"Habit, I am afraid. We Norringtons always need something to do." He shook his head, kneeling at her feet.

"Well, it's a good thing you are a Sparrow now." He said kissing her hand. She laughed and held up his shirt proudly.

"All set then. No more rips." She sighed, allowing him to squeeze into the chair so she was sitting in his lap. "It's still so strange to think that we are married." She said, laying her tired head on his shoulder.

"Yes I' tis." He admitted. "I never thought I'd get trapped into it." He said truthfully, yet she wasn't hurt by his words. She understood his need to be free.

"I can't help thinking we haven't won yet though Jack...what if Beckett finds another way to get to us?" She asked and felt his chest muscles tense.

"Beckett has lost all of his credibility...even if he could get to us it would only be him and I've beaten him before, I'll do it again. He fights like a ruddy girl." Jack chuckled, but Ella remained serious. "Eleanore...don't give it another thought love...I'll keep you safe, you have my word." For once, when Jack Sparrow gave his word, he meant it.

* * *

"Mrs. Turner, 'twon't button...'stoo small." Liz's maid said as she tried, in vain, to get her dress on the next morning. Elizabeth sighed and looked into the mirror, nearly falling over when she noticed a small bump, that really could only be seen if you knew it was there. Not to mention the top half had grown considerably larger as well and ached.

"It must be the baby." She explained to her maid.

"Ah yes," The young woman agreed, "Just a moment ma'am, I will go and get you something from your mother's collection, they are a bit outdated but they will do until we get you some suitable maternity clothes." Elizabeth nodded miserably, sinking to sit on the bed in her chemise. The maid passed Will as she was walking out who instantly became distraught over the state his wife was in when he entered the room.

"Elizabeth?" His gentle voice came as he knelt before her. She sighed.

"Will." She replied, touching his black hair. "We're having a baby." She said finally, confusing him.

"Well...yes...we've known that my love..."

"But it only know just hit me..." She said, her eyes shining with frightened tears.

"What...? How?" He asked, caressing her velvety cheek.

"My clothes don't fit much anymore..." Her soft response touched him.

"Oh Liz..." He said, using the nickname he only ever could bring himself to say when they were completely alone and emotion was high. She smiled through her tears.

"I like when you call me that." She said, allowing him to place a chaste kiss on her lips. He grinned.

"I know..." He replied, moving to sit beside her putting his arm around her shoulders.

"There's a slight...well...my stomach...it isn't flat anymore." She said, tightening her chemise to show him. Not to his surprise, there was indeed a slight roundness to her once flat middle.

"Don't tell me you're one of those self assured women who goes all self conscious when they become pregnant?" He asked, and she laughed.

"No...but it is strange being a certain way your entire life and everything just changes." They lay down together so her head was resting comfortably on his chest.

"I mean...I always wanted this life of adventure and danger...I wanted to be a pirate...you know that. I mean...I reveled in the fact that we were associated with all of that...and then...we went to the end of the world...and we got Jack back and all that seemed to matter was just living each day as it came and at that moment, I craved normalcy more than anything I had ever craved. My thirst for danger was decidedly quenched and I was ready to marry you. Finally...and when I found out I was pregnant, I realized I never needed any of that mess. All I've ever need was you and the family we are when we're together. But I don't regret anything that happened because, as dodgy as Jack can be, he's the best friend we've ever had. I know you were upset when I kissed him that day..."

Will started to protest, but she held her hand up to silence him.

"No...I need to say this." She went on, "I kissed him because I wanted to save us yes, but I _wanted _to kiss Jack, to see what it was like."

"Elizabeth..."

"Will please..." She begged, "And so I did, for no good reason and it was a fine kiss, I enjoyed it, I'll admit that..." The pained look on his face hurt her, so she quickly continued. "But, at some point, when my lips were touching his, I realized it all just felt...wrong..._unnatural..._and I realized I had to spend the rest of my life kissing you...and only you. I'm sorry for hurting you then, Will...but I don't regret it. It opened my eyes to how special you truly were to me." Will was quiet for a moment before letting out a long breath.

"I thought about doing the same thing Davy Jones had done because every time I looked at you, I saw you and him kissing...and I wanted to die. But then, you married me, you brought me back to reality, to what was really important and now I understand why you did it. Then, when he met Eleanore...I knew instantly that he'd found what we had too. Right from the beginning whether he wants to admit it or not, he looked at her the way I had always looked at you. Like you were the only thing that could ever make me happy." Elizabeth began to cry at that exact moment. She sniffed, wiping her eyes.

"Damn these crying spells." She sobbed and for the first time that day, the two of them laughed.

* * *

"Fourth time today...love, you're bloody insatiable." Jack said breathlessly, gathering Ella into his arms after another rousing episode of marital bliss. She breathed raggedly into his chest, her muffled laughter coming. With a great sigh, he sat up.

"Well love, we really should get dressed and go out to see the crew for a bit. At least until sundown." He said and she agreed, wanting to feel the warm Caribbean sun. She pulled on one of the dresses from the open trunk near the wall that had come from a French trading ship.

"Well, I suppose marrying a pirate has its advantages. At least I get to wear Parisian fashions..." She giggled, making him chuckle as she pulled on the yellow dress with the heavenly low neckline that the French loved so much.

"Merci Monsieur..." She said, curtseying slightly, laughing at the amount of cleavage the gown offered with the bodice practically being a corset within itself, a frill of white lace adorning the outer edges of the neckline. He practically dove at her, attacking her slender neck with his lips as she squeaked with delight.

"You are simply delicious love, much more better than any of those delectable sweet fruits." She sighed, unable to remove the smile from her face.

"You're just trying to flatter me back into bed..." She accused halfheartedly, closing her eyes to the sensations coursing through her as he backed her toward their rumpled bed again. Her fingers found their way to entwine in his hair as their lips met in a passionate kiss that was interrupted by what sounded like a gun shot coming from below. Either one of the men was smoking and had set off the gun powder, or something else had gone wrong.

Jack was on his feet in an instant, already going toward his sword.

"Jack, what was...?" She began but he turned back toward her.

"Eleanore...I am going to go see what happened. You will stay in here with the door locked, and not come out until I tell you to." She nodded numbly and sat on the bed, terrified, pulling her knees up to her chest as he kissed her one last time and walked out of the cabin. A creak behind her startled her and she decided against staying in the room and went after Jack, wanting to be near his side. When he noticed she had come out, he shook his head, his eyes fraught with worry.

"Oh no you don't..." He said, throwing her over his shoulder and putting her back in the room, locking the door, this time from the outside.

She banged on the door for him to come back as the fire crackled behind her. Slowly, she backed away from the door, frightened. As she turned to rush to the bed, she collided with someone's chest. One that was relatively lower to the ground than her husband's and was soaking wet.

"L-Lord Beckett..." She managed to get out, barely recognizing him. His wig was gone, leaving his short cut brown hair a mess, his face was covered in day old stubble and he still wore his wedding clothes. With a bit of disdainful cruelty, he took her left hand and scoffed.

"What have you done you foolish chit?" He asked, eyeing the wedding ring. She snatched her hand back and held it protectively to her heart.

"How did you get on this ship?" She asked and he grinned maliciously.

"I climbed on you stupid girl...but no matter, I don't mind if Sparrow's already taken you, I want you now...you were mine first." He said, grabbing her roughly by the shoulders and pushing her toward the bed.

"Cutler no!" She cried, falling onto her back with him on top of her, clutching at her ample and visible bosom.

"Oh yes...I have waited far too long for this and..."

"I'm scarred." She said quickly and he made a face at her.

"What?"

"I have scars, horrid ones on my back...they're hideous...so I am not perfect and you don't have to do this..." She pleaded. He nearly spat in her face.

"Honestly, do you think I give a damn what's on your back? It's what's between your legs I'm after..." He said and she coughed away the smell of old seaweed as he began to rip at her bodice. Mustering all of her strength she found a scream.

"_Jack!" _

Jack's head snapped around as he and the men all looked at each other to confirm they had indeed heard the cry from the cabin above.

"Ella..." He whispered, before sprinting back up the stairs to the main deck, passing a few of the men, pushing one out of the way as he fumbled for the key to the cabin door. He could hear her muffled sobs coming from behind the wooden door. Finally, he managed to get it open and nearly died at the sight in front of him. Beckett had trapped her beneath him and had her bodice half ripped open, indecently exposing most of her bosom. Grabbing his pistol he cocked it and managed to say,

"Get off of my _wife _you disgusting excuse for a human..."

Beckett only looked at him to irritate him further.

"Ah Jack, good of you to join us...I just came to retrieve something of mine, so if you'll just leave us be, I'll take her and be on my way." Coming further into the room, Jack pointed the pistol straight at Beckett's head.

"I am warning you...get off my ship and my wife or I'll see to it the last thing you ever do is beg me to kill you quickly." Swiftly, Beckett got off of Ella and stood to face Jack. Ella scrambled to cover her chest, rehooking the fastening.

"You always did want what was mine Sparrow..." Beckett spat. "First my job and now my wife."

"_My _wife." Jack said, keeping the pistol aimed. "And what do you mean your job?" He asked, running a hand through his long black hair.

"Don't pretend you don't know...I was meant to be promoted to Admiral, but they were going to give it to you...that's right Sparrow! You were going to be Admiral John Sparrow, but when they'd learned that I had caught you in your traitorous ways and had branded you, I was their hero and a few years later, my father died, leaving me the title and the money, which I invested in the East India Trading Company...and gained even more power! Refusing to transport slaves..._really_...you act like they are real people and not savages..." He laughed viciously as Jack stared at him soberly, his dark eyes cold, "But I won in the end...don't you see? I'll always win...so I will just take this little tramp back to..." Jack could stand it no longer, he darted forward and the last thing Ella heard was a piercing shot.


	20. Persephone

Jack wasn't sure whether it was his own scream or Ella's that he heard following the shot. The pistol in Cutler Beckett's hand gleamed in the stream of sunlight and was still smoking from the freshly fired pellet. Blood stained Beckett's shit but to Jack's horror, he realized it was not Beckett's blood. It was Ella's. She'd fallen limply onto the bed, facing away from them. Jack could hear her labored breathing as she gasped for air and when she turned, both of them realized it had hit her just below her ribs. Beckett laughed cruelly at her.

"Don't you see Sparrow? I always win...she'll be dead within the quarter hour." A strangled sound came from Jack's throat as his brown eyes turned black.

"So will you..." He whispered and dropped his gun, and lunging at Beckett, sending both of them reeling to the ground with Jack in control, his hands around the man's neck as he beat his head on the wooden floor. Beckett reached for Jack's discarded gun and had cocked it when Jack craftily pulled his dagger from his belt and gracefully skimmed it across Beckett's throat, blood spilling from the man's neck as he dropped his weapon and gagged for air. A moment or two later, he stopped gasping and Jack stared down at him, not one bit sorry.

The shock of killing Beckett was forgotten when Eleanore's slight whimper of pain came from the bed. Rising from the ground, he quickly moved to Ella's side and pulled her into his arms, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"I'm...sorry..." She managed to choke out, wincing. He couldn't find his voice, but shook his head at her. "I shouldn't have come out after you..." She whispered. Her eyes were beginning to look a bit glassy as she fought for breath for a few moments.

"No..." He said, finally, "I should never have left you alone..." His voice choked in his throat and he began to sound rather like a child as a sob escaped him. "It...it wasn't supposed to end like this." She coughed violently, a bit of blood coming out of the corner of her mouth as she shivered.

"Jack, I...I...love...you..." She said and he managed to kiss her, but before he pulled away, her lips softened and she went limp.

In utter horror and disbelief he stared at her for a long while. Ella, _his _Ella, was dead. _Gone. _Her skin had gone white and the life was removed from her lovely face. Her face was wet, but from whose tears Jack could not tell. The door to the Cabin was thrown open as Mr. Gibbs and Jack's father burst in, ready for attack.

"Cap'n." Gibb's began, "We 'eard the gun shot, is everything all..." The man stopped, seeing the Captain hunched over with his back to them. When he turned around, the lifeless girl dangling in his arms, Gibbs let out a tortured cry, seeing the dead Beckett on the floor,

"No..." Grant said, eyeing the red stain on her chest.

"She isn't..." Gibbs began to say but the look in Jack's eyes told him otherwise. Jack sighed, setting her down gently.

"It's over..."

* * *

"'Ere we are miss! Two new dresses...from your mother's closet." The maid told Elizabeth when she returned. Liz felt a sudden chill. The sky outside had gone black and thunder clapped in the distance. The maid sighed, helping Liz into the dress. "I 'ate storms...always makes you feel somethin's gone wrong in the world." She curtseyed before leaving the room. Liz looked at herself in the mirror, but before she could even formulate a thought, the sound of bounding footsteps startled her as Will fell breathlessly into the room.

"Goodness Will! What is it?" Elizabeth asked, fearfully. His eyes were dark with sorrow.

"It's Eleanore...she..." He stopped, trying to catch his breath as what dangerously sounded like a sob emerged from him.

"She...what?" Liz asked but he shook his head.

"She's dead!" He said, "Beckett killed her!" Elizabeth lost her footing and actually fell into his arms when her knees seemed to give out from under her.

"After all Jack went through to find her...after all _she _endured...and she's gone? She's _really _gone?" Her voice broke. "Where is he?" She asked, referring to Jack.

Will sighed.

"He is downstairs with James..." She nodded, taking his hand.

"Well, we must see to them..." She said but she was not prepared for the state Jack was in when they found him and it literally frightened her. He was not crying, he was not speaking, he simply stared straight ahead and though he looked at Elizabeth in acknowledgment, he seemed to look through her. James, however, was a visible wreck, still in tears, his shaggy hair mussed, his clothes wrinkled.

"James." She said quietly, touching his arm. He reached for her and they held each other in the long embrace of two old friends. She moved to Jack next, wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, but he remained stiff and did not touch her.

"So, what now Captain?" She asked and his eyes listlessly focused on her. He didn't respond. Will bit his lip and came forward, putting his arm around Liz's waist.

"We have to do something...there must be something..."

"No." Jack said finally, quietly, his voice devoid of hope. "It's done...it's not like she is at world's end...her body is lying on the ship right now! Tia Dalma can't just wave her bloody hand and..."

"Wait!" Elizabeth interjected. "What if she could?" All three men turned to look at her.

"What?" It was amazing that they all said it at the exact same moment.

"She brought Barbossa back, why not Ella?"

Hope filled James's eyes.

"Do you really think she could?" He asked. Elizabeth shrugged.

"I know Barbossa's deal was to return to the Underworld, but there could be _some _way to bring her back...I mean, we all know Ella wouldn't bargain with Hades..." She said softly. Will nodded.

"Elizabeth is right. We've got to try..." Jack gave a slight nod of approval, though he looked skeptical.

"Fine." His curt reply came.

"I'm coming too." Elizabeth said, but Will shook his head.

"The hell you are...you're staying right where you are and resting with your father." When she began to protest he said, "You're carrying our child..."

"But I..." He silenced her with a kiss.

"I _love_ you Liz...do this for me." Finally, she relented and agreed to stay, watching them walk toward the docks until they were out of sight.

* * *

Not surprisingly, Tia Dalma was expecting them.

"Let me see 'er." She said as Jack gently laid Ella's body on the table at her gesture. Tia Dalma leaned over the girl's form, gently extracting the bullet with magic and cleaning the blood.

"Is there nothing you can do?" James asked fearfully. Tia Dalma's beautiful face was grim.

"'Dis is out o' my 'ands..." She replied regretfully. Jack's head began to lower into his hands before she said, "But 'der is someone who may be able to 'elp." She moved to a container of something and pulled out a handful of the same pink dust from before. She let it fall into the heart shaped jewel box and closed it. As it had before, the pink light appeared in the dim light, and the beautiful Aphrodite appeared.

Her tinkling voice, so like Ella's came. In fact, it hurt Jack to look at her.

"Calypso, what..." She stopped when Tia Dalma gestured to the table. Aphrodite glanced at Jack. "Your love...?" She asked and he nodded as she put a delicate hand on Ella's face.

"She looks...like me." She said softly, surprise in her voice. James had to swallow the lump in his throat because it was true. They could have been sisters.

"She was taken from you..." She mused. Again, Jack had to nod, blinking furiously to keep the stinging in his eyes at bay. With a small sigh, Aphrodite went to Jack, who had to look away because it seemed the resemblance grew every moment.

"Have you the compass?" She inquired as Jack fumbled stupidly for the ruddy thing, which had stopped working all together. Aphrodite whispered something that Jack was unable to hear and set the compass on Ella's chest. After a moment, another light appeared, this one blue, before a black haired being appeared with light amber colored eyes. She too, was beautiful, wearing a crown of flowers upon her head. Aphrodite smiled.

"Persephone, how lovely to see you..." A lovely smile appeared on her face as her hand took Aphrodite's. "Persephone...this man discovered the true purpose of my compass...but she's been taken from him...to the Underworld."

Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, nodded as she touched the compass and the face of it became cloudy as it turned into a window to the Underworld, showing Eleanore...awaiting her judgment, frightened and alone. Persephone looked at Jack knowingly.

"_She _is your treasure..." She said in a flowing alto voice. Jack looked at her confused.

"W-what?"

"The treasure...that this compass's prophecy foretells...she is _your _treasure." He nodded in agreement as Aphrodite smiled proudly.

"You have learned that true treasure is not gold or riches, but true honest love...and since you have broken the compass's spell...you will get the treasure you were promised."

"I...I will?" He asked in disbelief. She nodded as Persephone continued for her.

"The power of true love...now you must take both of her hands in yours..." She instructed as Jack complied. Ella's hands were cold and clammy even. Funny, how hours before she'd looked completely different, yet it was still her features and her hair. He closed his eyes. _Please let this work..._

* * *

Elizabeth paced furiously, biting her nails between fits of crying. She wanted to be there with Will and with Jack now...not cooped up in her father's house. What if Ella couldn't be saved? What then? Would Jack just go back to his old ways? Would he fall apart? And what of dear James, who would be a father not long after Will became one? Elizabeth sighed, staring longingly at the sea. Again she thought of their child as her hand came lazily to lay over the ever so slight curve of her middle. When would she be able to feel the child? Thoughts of her baby swan through her head, and of course, all that came to her mind were images of a little boy with black hair and brown eyes who looked just like his father and would no doubt be named for him. It was then that she figured out what she wanted to do.

* * *

"What you must do Jack, is bow your head and hold her hands in yours...Aphrodite and myself will each put one of our hands on yours. You must concentrate on your love for Eleanore...keep your eyes closed." Jack nodded at Persephone, utterly dumbstruck as to what he was doing. He did as she instructed, squeezing Ella's hands, praying he would feel her squeeze back soon. The warmth of the two goddesses' hands seemed to fill his entire body. Thunder rolled in the distance and a great wind filled the small cottage as a small light emerged from the compass. Jack tightened his grip on Ella's hands, hoping for a twitch, _anything, _as he thought of Ella. Their first kiss that night on the beach...their night in Tortuga and the rain...her confession of not wanting to be alone anymore...their second kiss...their wedding...their wedding night...her voice when she would sing. Oh, what a lovely singing voice it was...He thought of how she'd used her patience and kindness to enchant his crew of pirates. He realized he'd never loved anyone that much and suspected he must have loved her from their first kiss, when strands of her pinned rust colored hair had escaped in the gentle night breeze. The wind in the cottage became increasingly violent as lightning began to flash outside the window before everything went eerily still and silent until a gasping sob broke the calm. 


	21. Aphrodite's Secret

Jack's eyes opened with a start while James had leapt out of his seat as had Will. Ella's entire body had jolted as if she'd fallen from the sky. The goddesses released Jack's hands and Jack dared to look up at Ella's face to see the slow movement of her chest, the color in her face somewhat returned. She still looked quite ill, but she seemed to be alive. It was almost too much for Jack to hope for.

"She's asleep." Persephone explained. "When a soul is called back to the body, it can be quite tiring for the individual." Jack nodded at her, pondering for a moment.

"Will she remember…everything?"

"Of course." Persephone replied, "Though, she will most likely remember very little, if anything about the Underworld." With a smile, she gestured toward the sleeping girl.

"It's alright…you can touch her." Hesitantly, his hand cupped her blissfully warm cheek, hot tears beginning to sting his eyes. A sob emerged from James as Will supportively touched his shoulder. Jack looked at Will, who nodded and turned back to Ella.

"Eleanore?" Jack whispered, unsure of what to do or say. Groggily, she frowned without opening her eyes and groaning as a child would do when being woken by their mother.

"What?" She asked grumpily in her sleep. All three men nearly collapsed in relief. Persephone let out a great sigh.

"Well then…I must go, no doubt to explain to my husband why he just lost a soul." Will let out a small laugh.

"I suspect you have nothing to worry about. Though I do warn you, she may have had him knitting or ballroom dancing." He laughed, winking at Jack. Persephone smiled and disappeared.

Aphrodite, however, was looking at Ella with great confusion.

"What 'es wrong?" Tia Dalma asked, moving to the goddess's side.

"I…I don't understand." She said, "She…she looks just like me…" Aphrodite shook her head in denial and sighed.

"Ah well…I must go too…"

"Thank you." Jack said sincerely and a surprised smile played at her face.

"You are most welcome…John." She winked at him and in a flash of pinkish light she was gone.

* * *

Ella's head hurt so badly it throbbed. She tried opening her eyes, but they felt as heavy as bricks.

"Ella?" Elizabeth's voice came out of the darkness, beckoning her to wake as the room came into focus.

"Liz?" She whispered. Elizabeth was standing over her with a damp cloth that felt wonderful on her head. "Am I dead?" She asked, her voice thick with exhaustion. Elizabeth shook her head.

"Not anymore." She replied and realization came to Eleanore.

"Beckett! Beckett shot me, he…"

"He's dead." Liz finished for her. "Jack killed him." Ella's eyes widened and her hand moved to where she'd been caught.

"But…where is the wound?" She asked in confusion. "How long have I been out?" Liz smiled.

"Three days…but Tia Dalma healed the wound when you…when you were…"

"Dead." Ella said uncomfortably. "I knew I'd died…I mean, I was in this dark cavern and there was a man…he…mistook me for someone else." She stopped then. "Where's Jack?" Liz grinned and pointed to an armchair across the room.

"He's finally asleep. I suggest you pretend you haven't been up yet. He wanted to be the first to see you awake." Ella managed an affectionate smile.

"The dear…of course." She whispered, closing her eyes again.

Elizabeth moved to Jack and crouched down to gently touch his arm.

"Jack…" She said soothingly. "Supper will be ready soon." He woke quickly, rubbing his eyes.

"Need…rum." He muttered as Liz rolled her eyes.

"Typical…I'll see if James has any in this house." She left the room quietly. After the door had closed, Ella began to stir, taking a deep breath. Not to her surprise, Jack heard her and was at her side in seconds. Hesitating, she dared to open her eyes and found him staring at her intently.

"Hello…" She said softly, smiling at him. Surprised replaced exhaustion as he realized she was really awake.

"Eleanore?" He asked in disbelief. She yawned.

"How long have I been asleep?" She asked as his voice caught in his throat.

"Three days." He said, hearing her sigh.

"It was horrible, wasn't it?" He brushed a strand of his long, deep brown hair out of his face.

"Awful…" He agreed. "But you're here and you're looking at me…and you're mine and nothing is ever going to happen to you again because I'm never letting you out of my sight." She grinned.

"I know…" He took one of her hands.

"I found the house I was telling you about…right on the seashore…it needs some work, but it should be ready for you in a few months."

"Wonderful." She said as he finally allowed himself to break down, burying his face in her middle. Her hand lovingly came to stroke his thick hair.

"Put it all behind you Jack…" He moved to lay beside her, gathering her in his arms. "What's past is past."

"I don't know what I would have done it you…if there was nothing we could have…"

"But there _was_ Jack…and here I am to prove it." She said touching his face, she so loved his face.

"You know I do love you." He said as she beamed at him.

"Why Captain…I do believe you've gone soft on me." He smiled, giving her a smoldering look.

"Just don't tell anyone, love…I have a rum drinking, pillaging, pilfering, pirating reputation to uphold, savvy?" She giggled.

"What about being an infamous rake?" She asked teasingly and he looked at her in shock.

"No love, that is one part I am proud to give up." He kissed her softly on the lips, never deepening the kiss for, in moments, he was asleep with his head on her shoulder. Kissing his forehead she let her cheek rest against the top of his head and let him sleep.

Moments later, the door cracked open and Ella saw James peek his head in.

"Ellie?" He whispered. She nodded at him and gently moved Jack to lay on his side, kissing him again. She got up and threw her arms around his neck.

"Oh Jimmy…" She said, crying again and throwing herself into his arms as she had when she was very little. Silently, he held her tightly for a moment.

"Ellie...we thought we'd lost you..." She nodded at him, looking back at Jack and swallowing the lump in her throat.

"I think everyone did. He saved me..." She said, her voice full with love. James patted her cheek. "How is Charlotte?" She asked, wiping his face with his handkerchief.

"She's perfect...worried about you, but happy."

James couldn't suppress a grin.

"They've made me General...Governor Swann did." A grin broke on her face as she threw her arms around him.

"Oh James! It's what you always wanted!" His eyes were positively glowing as Ella went on happily. "Oh poor Charlotte...she was fretting so about the baby being a financial burden and now she can stop, though she really had nothing to fear in the first place." She stopped talking when the smile left her brother's face and turned to face him again. "What is it?" She asked. He shook his head in disbelief, staring at her in wonder.

"Ella, your nightgown...it shows part of your back...the scars." Her face reddened as she realized the nightgown was too big for her and hung off of her shoulders.

"Oh...oh dear." She said softly. "I'll just cover them then..."

"No." He said stopping her.

"No?" She asked in confusion, her eyes large with wonder.

"Ella your scars are...they're gone!" He cried and her mouth opened as if she were going to say something before she stopped

_"What?"_ She moved quickly to the mirror, craning to see her exposed back and nearly fainted. Sure enough, the skin was as smooth as the day she'd been born.

"James...how?" She asked incredulously. He sighed, pulling the gown over her shoulders not to hide her back for once, but for the sake of modesty.

"I don't know, but I think this may have something to do with it..." He replied, picking up a small wicker box tied shut with a pink satin ribbon. Inside, there was a small infant sized pink dress adorned with bows and lace, an embroidered pillow with Ella's name on it and a folded piece of parchment with her name on it.

_To my only daughter Eleanore on the event of her birth. _

_Today is the day you came into the world. Oh Eleanore...you and James are most precious to me in this world. There are so many things I want to tell you, but I don't know where to start so I'll just get on with it. Never forget daughter, that family is most important. As you will most likely find, you take after me. My hair color, the copper brown I once loathed and the green-blue of my eyes. You are, no doubt, destined to look like me as I look like my mother. Eleanore, what I am going to reveal to you in this letter will seem a bit outrageous, but you mustn't judge me. I hardly believed it myself when your grandfather told me on his deathbed. You see, I had never met my mother...I presumed her dead, but a goddess cannot die. Yes Ella, my mother was a goddess, the goddess of love to be exact. I am the daughter of Aphrodite herself, and you, her granddaughter. Right this moment, she is part of you and your brother, though since he is a male, he will not show as much of her. I can see the traits of her in you even now. You hardly cry...unless you are hungry. Know this my darling girl...I am most grateful for you and for this bond we share. _

_Your loving Mother, _

_Isabella_

"James..." Ella whispered after a long while of staring at the parchment. He nodded at her, putting his arm around her shoulder.

"I know." He replied. "I am going to leave you and Jack alone...and spend some time with Charlotte. I will see to you later." He said, holding her tightly. She watched him leave, the letter still clutched in her shaking hands. It was almost laughable, the irony of it all. Aphrodite was her _grandmother..._and Aphrodite herself was the very reason Ella had found her life entwined with that of Jack Sparrow's. Folding the letter neatly, she placed it back in the box and gently took out her baby dress. It was hard to believe she'd once worn the garment and to her surprise in it's folds of lace and satin, was a miniature portrait of her family. Her mother, father and Jim and in her mother's arms, she lay, asleep, wearing the very same dress she held in her hands. When she was able to tear her eyes off of the miniature, she saw Jack staring at her oddly.

"Planning ahead love?" He asked, gesturing to the dress. She shook her head, blushing.

"It was mine..." She explained, showing him the portrait.

"You look just like her..." He said, a tender grin coming to his unshaven face. She nodded proudly.

"I know...she told me everything." Ella gave him the letter too, watching his expression change from amusement to wonder to shock to understanding.

"Of course..." He said. "She knew something was strange with how much you resembled her." He said, referring to Aphrodite.

"I want to meet her." Ella said softly, sitting beide him. "I am, after all, one quarter goddess." She teased and a smirk played at his mouth.

"More than just a quarter goddess, pet. How I missed you..." He said and pulled her into a kiss. When they pulled apart an amused grin made her suspicious.

"What is it?" She asked, brushing his hair out of his face. His eyes were glowing with mischief.

"If you are a quarter goddess, does that mean that your darling brother is too?" She stared at him a moment before she lost her cool and broke into a fit of giggles.


	22. Life After Death

Six months had come and gone with such speed, Ella wasn't sure if time sped up or if everything was just so chaotic it seemed that way. Elizabeth was due to give birth at any moment and Will was a nervous wreck most of the time. Jack and Ella were now settled into their house, though the sea and the _Pearl _would always be home. Elizabeth and Will continued to reside with the Governor, who, was tickled to death that his grandchild would be raised at his own home. Charlotte and James were also preparing for the birth of their child, who would be born in the next two months. James was now General Norrington and though the East India Trading Company still existed, it was nowhere near the threat it had once been.

Jack's father and Mr. Gibbs would care for the ship while he and Ella were at the house. They had reached a compromise where they would stay at the house for two months and at sea for one. However, in three days, Jack would be boarding his ship for a month without Ella and though Ella was saddened, she was also comforted by a secret only she knew. She wasn't able to go because she had promised Charlotte she would stay around for her while she waited to give birth herself. When she woke that morning the house was empty. It was drizzling outside, the after effects of the storm from the night before. She got up and dressed with help from her lady's maid before setting about to finish some knitting for her niece or nephew.

The door didn't open until well after noon when the sun had just begun to peak from behind the clouds. Jack brushed himself off in the doorway, silhouetted by the light from the outside. Ella beamed at him.

"Did you send Elizabeth my love?" She asked, setting aside the knitting to go to him. He kissed her nose and ran a hand through his hair.

"I did...dear old Lizzy's having quite the morning though, love." He said with a smirk. Her eyebrow raised.

"How so?" She asked, settling herself on the arm of the chair he'd sunk into as his arm slunk around her waist.

"She's having a baby." He said with a grin. "Bloody insane that one, before I left, she was screaming at dear William in a rage...I said my piece and got the hell out of there before she chucked something at me head..." He chuckled at the thought.

Rising from her seat, Ella started toward the kitchen before Jack could protest.

"I must send something over...for Will to eat while he waits...the poor dear..." She settled on an apple pie and pulled her cloak on. "Come on dear...you don't think we'd let Will wait alone with Governor Swann now, do you?" Jack winced.

"No...it's just I don't fancy sitting around having tea and crumpets with Governor Swann as it were..."

"Oh come now..." She gently scolded as they set off for the Swann house.

* * *

"Relax Ma'am...just relax!"

Elizabeth Turner glared at her midwife, wincing through one of her frequent contractions.

"Don't you tell me to relax! You are not the one attempting to push a child out of yourself! _I_ am and _oh!_" She began to pant in pain, turning her head to the side and biting the pillow. Her dirty blonde hair was matted to her forehead with sweat, her chemise clinging to her as she gripped the bedsheets.

"You're nearly ready..." The woman assured her, having heard it all before.

"Is that supposed to relieve me?" Elizabeth cracked back. She'd been having contractions since late the night before but she hadn't realized she was in labor until this morning when her water had broken.

"Splendid." The midwife said with a smile. "Are you ready Mrs. Turner?" Liz managed a nod, breathing deeply.

* * *

"I'm sure it's fine Will." Ella said soothingly, stealing a glance at her husband and Governor Swann sharing a bottle of whiskey. With a slight roll of her eyes, she poured a glass for the nervous father to be.

"It's been too long, something is wrong..." He said, convinced. It was now near dusk and his eyes were bloodshot.

"These things take time..." Ella said, putting an arm around Will's shoulders.

"It's true son..." The Governor said. "My wife, God rest her soul, was in labor for ten hours with our Elizabeth..." Jack made a noise to indicate he had been imagining that very situation.

"I'm so glad I'm of the male gender..." He muttered, clicking glasses with the Governor. Ella shook her head and snatched the bottle of whiskey.

"No more...I'm sure I'll have to carry you home if you continue this way..." Her voice was firm but her eyes twinkling told him she was amused. The moment was interrupted by the voice of the tired midwife. The Governor stood at the sight of her.

"Well?" He asked, eyeing his son-in-law who looked near ready to faint.

"Mr. Turner has a son. Congratulations...you're wife will see you now." She said, turning and heading back up the stairs, no doubt to gather her things. Will stood quite still for a moment before Ella urged him forward with her hand. He nodded and gulped before dashing up the stairs and leaving them all standing there. Jack with a confused look, Governor Swann with a serene expression and Ella biting her lip.

* * *

Governor Swann's cook had made them all dinner and they were just finishing when Will appeared in the doorway of the dining room with a bundle in his arms. Both Eleanore and the Governor rushed to see the baby as Jack discreetly poured the rest of the Governor's wine into his own glass. Not that he particularly enjoyed wine, but it certainly served its purpose.

"Well, what's his name then Will?" Ella asked, peering into the bundle which, looked to Jack, like a blanket with a small pillow stuffed into it.

"He was named after me...and my father."

"How is Elizabeth?" The Governor asked worriedly. Will nodded.

"She's fine...sleeping of course. It took her near ten minutes to convince me to hold him." Will laughed nervously. Jack sighed and got up.

"Alright...let's see 'im then..." Ella moved aside so Jack could get a look at the baby. He studied it for a moment. "Do they always look like that?" He asked Ella. Governor Swann laughed.

"Yes...they do sort of resemble shriveled prunes when they're born don't they?" Jack experimentally touched the baby's hand with one finger, which instantly closed around his finger. Jack looked as if he'd been bitten and tried to pull it back.

"Little bugger has quite a grip...doesn't he?" He quipped when he pulled it out and patted the baby's forehead. Leaning down, he began to whisper as if telling the baby a secret. "Look, your Mum and Dad are a right couple of pains in the arse...especially your Mum...but they're not too bad...don't give them too much trouble aright?" He seemed to listen for a moment as Will gave Ella a look. "Deal then." Jack said and winked at the baby's father who rolled his eyes.

"Could I?" Ella's voice came shyly from beside Will, who nodded at her. Gently, she took the baby from him and laughed. "Well...he's certainly not suffering from being undersized is he?" Indeed the baby was rather large for a newborn with a thick mop of black hair on his head.

"No I suppose not." Will mused with a chuckle. When she offered him to Jack, he declined though she suspected it was out of fear and not disinterest as he would have her believe. When they had done, she handed the baby to his grandfather and yawned.

"Well, we'd better get on with it! I'm exhausted...I get so tired easily these days...must be the colder weather..." She added. Not that the weather was particularly cold since they were in the Caribbean but the storm had settled the temperature to a cooler level.

* * *

Sure enough, Ella was asleep by the time they reached their house and Jack had to carry her in. She'd been a bit reserved all night and it worried him a bit. Still, the fact that she was sleeping with a smile on her lips calmed his nerves a bit. He undressed her and put her to bed before slipping out of the room to go and sit for a while in the quiet near the fire to think. He'd nearly gotten through a bottle of rum when she appeared in the doorway wearing her dressing gown.

"Jack?" Her tired voice came as she moved to sit on the sofa across from his chair curling her feet under her. "Are you alright?"

"Never better darling..." He said softly staring into the flames. "Though I should ask you the same...I worry you know...you've been tired and very...quiet...these past few days." He grinned wickedly. "Not that you were ever overly outspoken but you have been unnaturally silent."

"I'm fine..." She said, the surprise in her eyes, which seemed more green tonight that blue. Her eyes always changed when she was keeping something from him. _Must be the bloody goddess thing..._Jack thought gratefully.

"Ella..." His voice said, warning. She bit her lip and averted her eyes...then, to his utter horror, she burst into tears. Panic coursed through him as he nearly leapt to sit beside her on the couch and was hurt when she wretched away from his touch. "Tell me..." He pleaded. Finally, she looked up at him.

"It's just...you're leaving in two days and I have been wracking my brain, trying to figure out how to tell you...and I wouldn't want you to stay for my sake...in fact, I do want you to go...you love the sea and..."

"Ellie...you're babbling." He said softly, touching her arm and thankfully, she didn't pull away. She smiled through her tears.

"I know it...I just...it's just...what do you think of Will and Elizabeth's baby?" She said suddenly and he sighed loudly.

"Ella...don't change the subject." He said tiredly. She looked at him intensely.

"I'm _not _changing the subject." She said seriously staring at him with wide eyes for a moment. Confusion masked his face.

"Well, I don't know what you're on about woman but I think..." He stopped, his mouth dropping open as recognition came to him. "You're not saying...we...you're...I...no." He shook his head. "I mean...you can't be...it's not..._are _you?" She sniffled but laughed.

"I am." Her reply was short, to the point and nervous. He sat there, pondering her words for what seemed like hours. "Jack?" She finally said, unsure of herself.

"What?" He asked, looking at her.

"Say something..._anything,_ you're scaring me." He nodded.

"I'm scaring meself love...didn't think this would happen fer at least a year. A baby?" He asked again, making sure he'd heard right.

"Yes...are you unhappy?" She asked, her lip beginning to tremble. He looked at her, surprised.

"No...not in the least pet...just...surprised...a bit unsure of myself...but I could never be unhappy 'bout that...nothing that involves you could make me unhappy." He pulled her into his arms and kissed her temple.

"We'll be fine Jack..." Ella said reassuringly. He nodded.

"I know. I just wonder if we can get Pintel and Rigetti to crochet a blanket for it." Despite her best efforts she could not suppress a grin for the two pirates had developed a liking for embroidery and Jack never missed a chance to tease them about it. She smacked him and began to laugh so hard, tears came out of her eyes.

"Be kind..." She said, but her voice wasn't scolding him.


	23. Epilogue: Destiny Fulfilled

THREE YEARS LATER

"William, get inside this moment, you need to change your clothes for dinner!" Elizabeth stood in the doorway of her father's home watching her son play with his father.

"But _Mum..._I don't want to!" The boy complained as his father caught him around the waist and tickled him, making the three year old giggle.

"Come on then...Colin is coming for dinner..." Will coaxed his son. Colin was the son of James and Charlotte Norrington, and was two months younger than Will and Elizabeth's son. Will stopped to kiss Elizabeth on his way in the house before leaning down to kiss the soft golden head of his first daughter Amelia, who was propped on Elizabeth's waist. Amelia had been born seven months earlier and though Liz would have loved her all the same had she been a boy, she was secretly thrilled that she had a daughter.

James and Charlotte arrived with Colin in tow shortly after Will managed to get little William changed. Colin was immediately ushered into the nursery by his friend to play. Elizabeth handed Amelia to Charlotte to coo over as they waited for dinner and their last few guests.

"Yesterday was Father's birthday..." Liz said sadly to James, who gave her a sympathetic look.

"I'm so sorry Elizabeth." He replied, patting her arm. Will squeezed her shoulders as she sighed.

"I can't believe it's been six months already since he...he went." They all nodded. Governor Swann had passed away suddenly shortly after Elizabeth had given birth again and it was still very hard on her. Still, it was a bittersweet day as it was little Will's third birthday.

"Are Jack and Eleanore coming?" Will inquired. James nodded.

"They just got in last night, so they should be here any time..." Right on cue, the doorbell rang, indication they had indeed arrived. They were showed in and in a flurry of high squeals and giggles, Jack set his daughter down so she could run into her uncle's arms to kiss he and her aunt.

"Uncle Jimmy!" The child cried. The little girl took after her mother but somehow had ended up with dark, dark hair instead of copper. James chuckled kissing her chubby cheek and passing her to his wife who did the same.

"If it isn't our favorite niece Cora Rose..." He said affectionately, kissing Ella's cheek and nodding at Jack.

"How was the trip?" Elizabeth asked the girl's parents as she too bent to kiss Cora, who was enthralled with Amelia.

"It was fine...it gets a bit harder when...well, you see me!" Ella laughed, sitting down.

"My Mum is going to have a _baby_." Cora said excitedly to Liz, who smiled.

"I _know _dearest...it's exciting!" She said gently, setting Amelia down so that she could play with Cora.

"Ah yes, Heaven help me if it's another girl." Jack mused as Will poured him a drink.

"I can assure you it is not." Ella said quickly. "It kicks just like you do when you sleep." Jack grinned at her.

"Ah, but I don't kick when I am wrapped around you...and I never hear you complain." He said wickedly into her ear so no one could hear. She laughed.

"Behave Captain...my big brother is just across the room...savvy?" She added, a gleam in her eye.

"So...have you lot decided on a name?" Charlotte asked. Ella nodded.

"If it is a girl, we'd like to call her Claire. For my mother." She answered, eyeing James who smiled encouragingly.

"And if it's a boy?" Liz asked. Ella looked at Jack, who obviously had no idea either. She grinned.

"John." She replied. He was obviously surprised but beamed at her, running a hand through his hair, which was as long as it had ever been. It was one of Ella's favorite things about Jack, his hair, which his daughter had inherited among other things such as his intelligence and quick wit.

Cora was smart, exceedingly so for a girl of two, and even got the best of Jack sometimes, though not often. She knew how to get her way with Jack, though, and for being a pirate, he was easily manipulated by this tiny person. He often mused talking to Cora was like talking to a tiny adult and that scared the hell out of him.

The day Cora had been born had been like any other. In fact, Jack had been away for a week on the _Pearl. _Ella had been reading in the sunroom when she'd felt the first pangs. She sent her Cook for the midwife and for Elizabeth, who had in turn, summoned James and Charlotte. Ella was in tears by the time James arrived as Jack was already two hours late. Will had gone out to find him and finally burst in with him both of them out of breath and pale.

"What the Bloody Hell is going on around her?" Jack asked, eyeing the anxious stares of his houseguests. "Where is...?"

"Ella?" Liz finished for him, hoisting her own infant son onto her lap for a feeding.

Jack nodded at her impatiently.

"Is she well? Is the baby...?" He got his answer, however, when he heard Ella's cry of pain from their bedroom. "Bugger." He muttered, leaving the sitting room and tentatively pushing the bedroom door open to see an older woman with her hands in places only he'd ever touched.

"What the devil are you...?" He started, but Ella looked over at him sighing in relief.

"Oh thank God!" She said, wincing. He artfully maneuvered so that he could kiss her without looking at anything in case it might be something horrible. She accepted his kiss but broke it off by slapping him.

"Where the bloody hell have you _been _John Sparrow?" Her eyes were green with fury. He looked at her, almost amused.

"I...what? But, I..." He began to stutter, "There...we...there was a run in, but I'm fine..."

Her eyes narrowed at him.

"Well I am so glad...because...I..." She stopped, as she had another contraction.

"Ella?" He said, worrying. Her glare did not soften.

"I...am...going...to...kill...you...myself!" The midwife looked up.

"Mrs. Sparrow...you are ready to push." She said, looking pointedly at Jack.

"Push what?" He inquired. Unamused, the midwife stood, cleaning her hands and preparing a clean blanket.

"The baby..." She explained. His mouth dropped as he dared to peek.

"You mean...it...the baby will come out of _that?_" He asked. Ella glared at him.

"Mr. Sparrow..." The midwife said calmly.

"Captain." Jack corrected. She sighed.

"Captain...get out." She finished. He looked at her in confusion. "We shall let you know when your child has arrived." Jack scowled at her.

"You talk like it is going to walk through the front door." He kissed Ella's forehead and began to leave, but stopped. "Actually, if it's all the same to you, I would rather stay..." Now the midwife glared at him, but he crossed his arms sternly, challenging her to make him leave.

"_Fine. _Don't interfere. Hold your wife's hand." The midwife positioned herself and instructed Eleanore to push, which she did. Ella's grip on Jack's hand was like iron, and he actually yelped.

"Er...maybe I _should _go." He said, but Ella looked at him.

"_No. _You had your chance to leave. You're staying with me damn it!"

Perhaps it was the shock of her actually cursing or the fact that he had no idea what he was doing, but he nodded at her. After what seemed like endless pushing, the midwife had nodded calmly and looked up at them.

"The head is nearly out." Ella looked at Jack.

"How does it look?" She asked as he recoiled in horror.

"I'm not _looking!_" He protested, but the look on her face told him otherwise. The sight that awaited him was a bit terrifying.

"Well?" She asked. He looked at her.

"It's hard to say...slimy..._huge _comes to mind. It's interesting..." He shook his head, trying to tear the image from his mind. Ella cried out again in pain.

"I have to...I can't help it..." She cried and began pushing again. To Jack's surprise, almost easily, smoothly, the baby fell into the midwife's waiting hands. Falling back against the pillows, Ella thought the sound of the child's piercing cries were like music. Jack, of course, had jumped back in horror, but was still fascinated.

"What is it?" Ella asked, straining to see as the midwife cleaned her off. Dazed, Jack whispered,

"It's a baby, love, haven't you been paying attention?" She rolled her eyes.

"Why thank you dear husband, but I was referring to the gender."The midwife turned, hearing this.

"A girl." She replied, setting the child in Ella's arms.

"Oh dear God." Jack muttered.

"She's lovely." Ella said firmly, setting her into Jack's arms before he could protest.

"Well," He said after a long moment of studying her. He might have been close to crying, but he kept his cool. "I suppose she'll do." He finally said.

Shortly following Cora's birth, another wedding had taken place, and, quite frankly, a quite surprising one. Rigetti finally got up the courage to ask the girl of his dreams for her hand and soon after, he was married...to Scarlett. Jack had married them of course and it was the first time Scarlett did not slap him when she saw him.

Since the Governor had pass away, James had been elected to be the new Governor, but had politely declined and the position went to a man who traveled from England. It became clear that there would be no end to slavery any time soon. Ella knew it still bothered Jack more than he let on. He never spoke about it though and she never brought it up. One person couldn't change the world himself.

"Mum! Look at what I've done!" William cried, running into the sitting room after they had finished their dinner and flinging himself into Elizabeth's arms. Liz groaned. The boys had gotten into her powder and looked as though they'd been pelted with a bag of flour.

"My...that is lovely William...a bit much though, don't you think?" She turned to her husband.

"Will if you would be so kind as to wash your son's face?" Handing Amelia to his wife, Will caught his son.

"Powder is for ladies William...unless you're French." He said leaving the room. James stood as well, picking up his own powdery son.

"Yes come Colin, let's see how long you can go without getting into something else." He chuckled. Amelia giggled as her brother sneezed.

"So Jack," Elizabeth said when they'd gone, "How does that compass work?" He shrugged.

"Just a ruddy compass now. In fact, I don't even know where it is." He added. Liz sighed, and smiled. "Well it seems to have served its purpose now, hasn't it?" She asked, referring to Ella's middle. Jack lifted Cora off of the ground and nodded.

"Indeed..." He agreed tickling the child for a moment before looking up again. "It's the strangest thing." He said. All three women frowned.

"What is?" Ella asked, taking Cora from him when she yawned.

"Well...we went to see Tia Dalma, but she wasn't there. It seems she hasn't been seen for quite a while...she's disappeared." Liz met his eyes.

"Where could she be?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"I haven't the foggiest, but I'm sure she's up to no good." Will and James returned with their sons just as thunder sounded in the distance and it began to rain.


End file.
